Ford Mustang joins 200mph club

The latest hero car in the long history of the Mustang, a Shelby GT500, is confirmed with the 321km/h top speed at its official unveiling at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Other privately tuned Mustangs have been just as fast, or even faster, but Ford is taking official credit for the GT500 and a supercharged 4.8-litre V8 engine that  cranks out a massive 485 kiloWatts.

The company's performance vehicles division is also responsible for changing the car's gearing to ensure it can top the double-ton, after earlier models routinely ran up to 250km/h, as well as tweaking the front and rear spoilers for smoother airflow.

"This is the fastest Mustang ever. It's about listening to customers and offering the full choice of what they want," Mark Fields, the executive vice-president of Ford Motor Company, tells Carsguide.

The Shelby hero car is unveiled at the top of a facelifted  and updated range of Mustangs that goes into showrooms early in 2012, just in time for the American summer.

They have a redesigned front end and Xenon headlamps and a six-speed automatic with a touch-change manual mode similar to the Ford Falcon in Australia.

The king-of-the-hill Mustang comes as Chevrolet finalises its own showroom plans for a rampaging Camaro ZL1 with a supercharged V8 engine that pumps out 430 kiloWatts.

It's a new high for the two-door coupe developed in Australia as a spin-off from the VE Holden Commodore. Fields says there is no conflict between Mustang development and moves to a greener landscape in the car world, highlighting the car's ability to avoid the gas-guzzler tax in the USA.

He also says Mustang is vital to Ford. "It's an icon for the company, and people still aspire to owning a Mustang. There is a certain portion of the population that loves that fun-to-drive muscle element and I don't think that will ever go away," 

Fields says. "Our business is about passion, and I think there will always be a segment of customers that always appreciates that. And we'll be there for them."