2019 Ford Mustang: what we know so far

According to the latest figures, Ford now lays claim to the best-selling sports car in Australia with its iconic Mustang.

But, with a facelift that has already arrived, and the spectre of competitors landing on Australian shores, is there anything we know about Ford’s plans for the pony car in 2019?

The Mustang Bullitt is set to arrive for 2019

The Bullitt will cost ,688 and is limited to 700 units locally.

The strictly limited-edition Mustang celebrates the 50th anniversary of the namesake film and will have various performance enhancements pushing power up to 341kW/529Nm. Australia is set to receive 700 units which will cost $73,688 each. Read the full story here.

Ford has unveiled the new Mustang Shelby GT350, although it is ruled out for Australia

The GT350 won't be hitting Australian showrooms any time soon.

The famed performance variant will return in early 2019 for left-hand drive markets only, although it does not include the enhancements from the standard car’s recent facelift.

It represents the next performance rung up from the Bullitt with an enhanced drivetrain producing 392kW/581Nm as well as tweaked suspension and minor bodywork alterations.

Sadly Ford’s local arm confirmed that a local GT350 is “not something we see happening in the foreseeable future”.

The next-generation Mustang isn’t due until at least 2021

While this year's facelift received some welcome tech upgrades, the seventh-generation Mustang is still a long way off.

At which point the current car will be six years old. As part of Ford’s push to simplify its product line-up globally to just five platforms, the seventh-generation Mustang is expected to share a platform with the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Navigator.

This is because the large SUV’s underpinnings will be Ford’s only platform that supports rear-wheel drive outside of the body-on-frame chassis for utes and trucks in the future.

As to the future of the 5.0-litre V8, Ford’s Australian operation told us that “5.0 is a big part of the Mustang brand” but that “It will depend on legislation…” noting that, while most Mustangs sold in Australia are V8s, in Italy where taxes on high-capacity engines are much higher 85% of Mustang sales are EcoBoosts.

There’s a ‘Mustang inspired’ electric SUV in the works

Little is known about the Mustang-inspired SUV, other than it will be part of Ford's push toward electric vehicles.

Ford recently dropped a teaser image of an upcoming SUV that will, at the very least, aim to share some styling cues with the sports coupe. 

Little is known other than Ford has dubbed it the ‘Mach 1’ (although US sites are already speculating a name change…) and that Ford plans for it to be fully electric with a targeted 483km range.

Given the 2020 launch window, expect to learn more next year. You can read about it here. As for the chances of fully electric vehicles arriving locally, Ford told us it will happen “when the time is right”.

The Mustang will return to Supercars next year

Possibly the biggest Mustang news for 2019 is the pony car's return to the Supercars grid.

Thanks to the new Gen2 rules allowing coupe bodystyles, it will be the first time the Mustang has appeared on the Supercars grid since 1986.

You can read more about the Mustang re-joining Supercars here.

What Mustang news do you want to see in the next year? Tell us what you think in the comments below.