Ford Mustang Marketing Manager Explains Why the Shelby GT350 is Leaving
Spoiler Alert: The Mach 1 Played A Huge Role.
Earlier this week, the Ford Motor Company made it official that they will be killing off the Shelby GT350 iterations of the Mustang at the end of the year. The flat-plane crankshaft-having muscle car is unlike anything that came before it in the segment, and may never be repeated. Following the news of this decision, MC&T sat down with Head of Mustang Marketing Jim Owens to discuss why Ford has decided to “sunset” the much adored S550 Mustang GT350 and GT350R.
When Ford made the official announcement earlier this week that the Shelby GT350 would be leaving the lineup, the company pointed towards the fact that the GT500 model is now here to fill the range-topping role. Furthermore, the company noted that the Mustang Mach 1 will be joining the lineup for the 2021 model year. However, both of the new models take a drastically different approach to performance than the outgoing GT350. This isn’t a gaffe by Ford, but rather a deliberate decision to follow the same path that brought us the VooDoo-powered pony car in the first place.
“We bring in names that are surrounded by product attributes over a period of time … the GT350 learned a lot of things over that sixth-gen (S550) platform to continue to improve it,” said Owens. “Think Boss 302 — it was in and out for two years — that had a base program team and a Ford Performance team that got on (the program). So now as the GT350 sunsets, the Mach 1 comes in, that is the pinnacle of 5.0L performance.”
(photo credit : Manoli Katakis, Muscle Cars & Trucks)
