DETROIT -- Ahead of Thursday's global introduction of the redesigned 2015 Ford Mustang, a magazine story with details on the new car circulated on the Internet.
Scanned portions of an Autoweek cover story dated Dec. 9 were posted by svtperformance.com, mustang6g.com, and jalopnik.com, among other sites Tuesday. More images appeared today on Time magazine's Web site. Autoweek is a sister publication of Automotive News.
According to online images of the Autoweek article, big changes are in store for the sports car, which marks its 50th birthday next year.
The 2015 Mustang:
- Will be available around the world. The 2015 model, due late next year, will be the first Mustang since 1965 to be officially exported.
- Features an independent rear suspension, the first time that the regular production Mustang has been available with the technology. The last Mustang to have the feature was the low-volume SVT Cobra in 2004.
- Will be available with a 2.3-liter engine, the smallest offered in the Mustang since 1994. All Mustangs have been powered by either V-6s or V-8s since 1994.
- Appears to use no carryover body panels from the current car, even though photos show the new car's look is more evolutionary than revolutionary. The three-element taillights remain but are now more canted forward and tucked under the lip of the trunk lid.
- Has a sloping rear window, according to photos, that is reminiscent to that of the original '65 and '66 Mustang 2+2 fastback. The shape of the grille is another iteration of Ford's corporate Aston Martin-influenced snout.
- Has an all-new interior with what appears to be bright aluminum trim on the dash with machine-turned circles in the metal, a treatment used on classic 1960s and '70s muscle cars.
Automotive News and other publications have signed agreements with Ford to refrain from printing photos of the new Mustang and publishing information from briefings before Dec. 5.
