Ford Mustang News

Ford Australia said the brand was confident it would maintain its position as the second best selling brand in the nation thanks to the “never seen before” response to the new Ranger Super Duty.The Blue Oval's Australian Marketing Director Ambrose Henderson said the brand was “really confident” in its plans for next year, despite renewed pressure from both established and upcoming rivals.Ford depends heavily on its best-selling Ranger ute for its impressive sales of nearly 100,000 units in 2026. It now faces a renewed push from Kia with its long-awaited Tasman and BYD shaking up the ute space with its smash-hit Shark 6 PHEV, and that’s not to mention Toyota and its recently-refreshed HiLux range.Henderson said continued updates for the Ranger and Everest line-up, including wider availability of the V6 now the 2.0-litre bi-turbo has been axed, as well as new variants and incremental content upgrades would see the ute continue to fend off the competition.But the biggest source of new sales will be the Ranger Super Duty, Henderson said.“We’re still in the launch phase for Super Duty” Henderson explained. ‘We expect to have a really successful year on that in 2026 — our expectation is that it is going into white space and will be an incremental opportunity for us.”By this, he means the Super Duty was unlikely to cannibalise existing Ranger Sales, and instead will enter a new category where fewer rivals are able to compete.The Super Duty is a unique offering in the Australian market. Much more than simply another Ranger variant, the Super Duty is almost entirely new underneath, with an up-gauged frame, new suspension, heavy duty axles and even a new transfer case. These allow it up to 8000kg of GCM and push it into a category above most dual-cabs.“The initial response has been incredible," said Henderson. “Right back from when we first announced the nameplate - we were flooded with a response we’ve never seen before.”While he wouldn’t yet share numbers - these should become available around this time next month when the first round of VFACTs figures drop for 2026, he said the models available now were just the beginning of what the true volume the new ute has to offer.“The more retail pick-up and XLT are launching later this year, and we’ve got really strong order banks for those as well. The response has been really overwhelming,” he said.While the true scope of Super Duty is yet to be seen, Ford can chalk up a handful of other segment wins despite being slightly down for the year, by 5.8 per cent. The Ranger-based Everest off-roader is number one in the Large SUV segment, while Mustang leads the sports car pack. Plus, the brand had a record year for its Transit van range.There are storm clouds on the horizon for Ford. Rivals are circling with new options and the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which places heavy fines on high-emitting engines such as Ford’s diesel V6, poses a threat as Ford is not selling enough electric cars to help alleviate its fleet average.The critically well-received Mustang Mach-e for example, only found 483 homes over the course of 2025.“We’re in the most competitive automotive market in the world — within that, everyone is fighting really hard,” Henderson said.“We’re happy with the performance we have in that EV area, but we’ll have more transitional technologies over time.”“If you think about where Ford does really well in providing that capability to travel around Australia and be able to do those kinds of 4x4 activities - there still needs to be more of an investment from an infrastructure point of view to make those things more viable,” he said.

No, you’re not imagining it. Car companies are walking back their plans to roll out electric vehicles. So what does this mean for the future? What will we be driving instead? And should you stick to petrol or diesel?

Are you sitting on a future classic?

Recently one of my colleagues wrote an opinion piece praising the virtues of convertibles and sadly made the observation that affordable new ones have now become extremely rare. I’d like to set the record straight and clarify my own position on cars without a roof — they’re terrible in every way.

Ford has long suggested the future of its iconic Mustang muscle car would be hybridisation rather than electrification.A new report from Ford Authority, quotes “sources familiar with the matter” who said the current-generation S650 Mustang, which launched in Australia earlier this year, was in the process of being tested with a hybrid drivetrain.According to the report, a version of the S650 is already in testing what is referred to as a “Technology Prove-Out stage”, which means test mules are out on the roads in the US.Ford’s outspoken CEO, Jim Farley, has said the brand “will never make an all-electric Mustang” as long as it was able, although has hinted that hybrid power could be the right solution for more performance-oriented vehicles into the future.“I don’t know about 10 years from now, but for the 10 years we’re in now, a partial electrification is the perfect solution for high-performance customers” he said. “There’s going to be lots of grey degrees of partial electrification that’s still good for the planet."“You can still have that emotional experience. I think that’s where we’re going to be for a while.”He noted that those looking for an electrified take on the Mustang already have that demand fulfilled by the Mach-E coupe SUV.The company is yet to be any more specific on what the hybrid Mustang would look like, although many outlets have suggested it will be a plugless or self-charging hybrid model adding electric motors into the mix, possibly even adding all-wheel drive.In comparison, its closest rival on its American home turf is the Dodge Charger, which is either powered by a 3.0-litre twin-turbo inline six engine, or fully electric power via dual traction motors on the front and rear axle. The Charger is also available in either two- or four-door form, as it is also the successor to the previous two-door-only Challenger. Ford has notably not ruled out a four-door Mustang.When will we find out more? According to Automotive News Ford is due to facelift the current S650 Mustang in late 2026, with a full model redesign due in 2029. Farley suggested combustion power will remain in the Mustang nameplate well into the 2030s, telling media the brand would keep building V8s “as long as God and the politicians let us”.Under Farley’s leadership Ford has effectively split its most famous nameplates into sub-brands. Mustang features the iconic combustion coupe and now the electric SUV, while an expansive range of Maverick monocoque utes has proliferated, including a successful plug-in hybrid.The Bronco marque of Jeep-style off-road SUVs has also found success overseas, while the brand plans to roll out a range of what it says will be revolutionary affordable vehicles on its recently-announced low-cost universal EV platform. It will spawn a small EV ute first, and is expected to expand to SUVs in a range of sizes.

This week, Ferrari revealed the replacement for its SF90 Spider supercar, the 849 Testarossa Spider, and my first thought was that I’m glad convertibles are still on the cards - knowing full well that I would likely never be in a position to own this model.

Ford is reportedly working on a hardcore off-road supercar to sit at the top of its Raptor line-up.

Ford’s iconic muscle car is the first to cop a price increase due to penalties now in effect based on Australia’s new emissions laws. The price of a 2026 Ford Mustang has increased by $5000 across the board, with the entry point to the line-up now $71,990 before on-road costs.

Which Mitsubishi do you wish would make a comeback? Pajero? Lancer?  Well, Mitsubishi is currently undertaking a massive overhaul of its Australian line-up with several new models to come to fill the gaps. So while they're at it we’ve put together our wishlist of cars they really should really revive or bring here. The changes to the Australian Design rules (ADRs) in March this year meant Mitsubishi had to axe three vehicles from its local lineup.  These were the ASX small SUV, the bigger Eclipse Cross SUV and the Pajero Sport off-roader. This leaves Mitsubishi with just two cars on sale in Australia — the Triton ute and Outlander mid-sized SUV. Meanwhile Toyota has 23 models on sale.Now we're not suggesting that Mitsubishi needs another 21 models, Ford is managing just fine on pretty much the Ranger, Everest and Mustang, but I definitely think there are some essentials the brand could use and a few dream cars while we're at it.Probably the most obvious model Mitsubishi needs right now is the Pajero. Yep once-upon-a-1990s the Toyota Prado and Mitsubishi Pajero wrestled for dominance all over Australia, from the outback to suburbia. The Pajero eventually lost the battle and was axed by Mitsubishi in 2020 … or so we thought! Imagine the comeback. Just when the new generation Prado had arrived and was still gloating, the Pajero could make its return. Sure the Pajero Sport is coming back in 2026, but that’s a Ford Everest rival. The beauty is Mitsubishi could easily plonk another, posher-looking SUV body on the ladder frame and call it the Pajero. And they’ve already got the badges made up. You just just take the “Sport” bit off. Think of the savings.Next on our wish list is not really a car that would sell in high numbers, but it'd be the halo car in many ways the brand needs so badly right now —  a reborn Lancer, and yes, with an Evolution grade as well. Or maybe just a standalone Lancer Evo XI. I think we’re up to XI, I can't remember but I tested the very final one in 2015.Back in the final glory days of Ford Falcon versus Holden Commodore there were two other tribes going to war: Subaru WRX v Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. These days the WRX lives on, but it looks so lonely without the Lancer EVO to play with.Finally, and given the number of grey imports we see of this car, Mitsubishi needs to add the Delica people mover to its Aussie line-up. What’s not to like about a high-riding all-wheel drive six-seater van?A sixth-generation of the people mover is expected in the next two years and whether it looks anything like the futuristic and silly Delica concept Mitsubishi revealed at the 2023 Tokyo Motorshow is yet to be seen.A wishlist for Mitsubishi could go one forever, who wouldn’t want to see the Colt come back, or the Cordia Turbo? Or the 3000GT?In reality the ASX will be back and so too will the Pajero Sport, and that might be all Mitsubishi needs as it faces bigger problems.  Challenges like how on Earth will it adapt to a rapidly changing market that’s been inundated with excellent electric vehicles from brands which hardly existed five years ago. Currently Mitsubishi doesn’t even sell one purely electric vehicle in Australia at all.

Ford recalls versions of nearly every model it has sold since 2022.