And with it likely Ford of Australia. Mustang gets to keep a stand alone, rwd platform which may also underpin a production version of the MKR concept if it proves plausible. By all appearances, that constitutes Ford's entire future rwd program.

http://forums.motortrend.com/70/7317...ead/index.html

 

Whilst I appreciate these are uncertain times, this could be a short-sighted approach. The economy WILL bounce back, maybe not for a year or two, BUT wouldn't it be nice if Ford had a new RWD platform available just as the good times role again?

 

very sad.

 

If the economy and car sales ever recover Ford can focus on special RWD vehicles as consumers demand them. Right now it's only prudent they get the most out of the platforms they have now and manufacture only what is going to sell the best. People will always want Mustangs. It's part of the American fabric.


I believe that in order for the Mustang to continue to survive, it will have to appeal to those want responsible sporty fuel efficient eco friendly cars while also having a version appealing to traditional performance car buyers. That does not mean going back to being a weak as a daisy Mustang II but the original premise of the 1965 Mustang was to be an afforable sporty fun car which a range of options that appeals to everyone. The most important thing for the Mustang to survive is for it to not have an image of irresponsible self indulgence.

 

Well, I hope Ford Australia stick to their guns and keep the next generation Falcon RWD. Ford US could then use that for the platform for the 2014 Mustang, just as Holden did for GM with Zeta.

Otherwise the "all-new" 2014 will be using a pretty old platform by then.

 

I think sticking to their guns is what got Ford Australia into the mess they are in now. The truth is that the Falcon can no longer generate the kind of numbers required for FOA to reasonably take the lead in a GRWD FOrd program. And yet, because of their experience with the Falcon they assumed that they should get exactly that in spite of how the future looks.

Even worse, as best as I can tell FOA offered nothing in the way of a realistic alternative to the volume product they have now. Sometimes to survive product has to change, FOA seemed to have a difficult time letting go of the notion that Falcon is a volume seller.

Frankly I get the impression the FOA is viewed as a bit of a Maverick within the halls of FoMoCo, and that on a good day. To be blunt that kind of attitude seems unlikely to pay off with a rigidly structured guy like Mulally at the helm.

As of right now it appears that FOA's rwd program is well and truly dead. And if Falcon did somehow manage to get a reprieve, I would imagine the most likely scenario is the polar opposite of the one you as wishing for, with Falcon almost certainly being Mustang based if it somehow manages to survive.

 

Can't say I'm surprised.

 

^I second that.

 

So this means that the S197 platform's life will be a long one? We've seen this one before.

 

I'm not surprised either, and I wouldn't ever have purchased any of the potential other vehicles anyway so I couldn't care less to be honest. I think that the current platform will be fine for some time as far as the Mustang goes, and has a bit more potential left still.

 

The basic S197 design, yes. But I'd imagine we'll see platform evolution as we see in the FWD platforms (C2->C3, D3->D4) as opposed to the incredibly static run Fox had. Fox->SN95 was a pretty decent evolution despite the ancient starting point, I'd imagine a well-executed D2C-2 could be quite good. And It could still evolve into a IRS platform (not trying to start anything, just saying).
Having chewed on this for a couple days (and after suspecting /expecting the above for a few months), there's a very bright point to this. Namely, making GRWD a fullsize-compatible platform was destined to be a massive problem for Mustang going forward. The biggest problem with GM's Zeta has always been it's weight and that weight comes from it's Aussie Fullsize Sedan origins. I was optimistic that GRWD would be better, but I guess I was never really convinced they could avoid GM's problems as long as the thing had to haul around an Aussie Fullsize Sedan. As fun as Falcon and Commodore are, they're just too bloody big (even for Australia, if recent sales tell the truth). Weight is our big advantage this generation, I'm not too sad at having to keep it.

I'd still like to see MKR come in, and there's still 2 possibile platforms. 1 is to stretch D2C, it's DEW98 origins means there's a blueprint to follow and components to use. The other possibility is to use DEW itself, Jaguar's kept the platform alive and updated with it's new XF so it's still out there and still belongs to Ford. What's more, if Mustang and Jaguar are already spreading some of the costs around it makes the business case easier. Neither solution is as sexy as an all-new GRWD was, but neither is exactly a pile of junk, either.

 

So without the development of an all new platform does this allow Ford to take the Mustang in an all new direction for 2014? Take some of the time and money that would have gone into GRWD and put it into things like double wishbone set up in the front, IRS in the back, weight reduction, engine options, etc.? It seems like this might give the next Mustang a chance to become what Ford had originally intended it to when developing it on the DEW platform. Is it possible? Thoughts?

 

Let's not forget that the current platform was all new for '05 and designed for IRS from the get. It's been widely trumpeted as a very good platform. I think it quite likely that it can be massaged and refined for several more years yet.

 

Agreed, but won't discount or dismiss what TRRBGT says as well. Perhaps by that time Mustang will go on a diet and become a somewhat smaller car. I'd venture its safe to say that Challengers and Camaros will be gone by that time. Perhaps at that point we'll be looking at the 3.5 Ecoboost as the "big" engine and a couple 4 pots as the standard stuff. That strategy would lend itself to a somewhat smaller, lighter weight platform.