By Peter M. DeLorenzo
Detroit. Now that the glowing, borderline euphoric reports about the new 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 are streaming in, it’s clear that the automotive enthusiast world is being gifted another 700HP+ (760HP to be exact) high-performance monster for the street.
That it’s the first GT500 that actually handles with aplomb and stops with equal ability to match its blistering performance – 0 to 60mph in 3.3 seconds and 10.7 seconds in the ¼-mile (or thereabouts) – is excellent news, since the Shelby GT500s of the past were nose-heavy blunderbusses that didn’t particularly live up to their vaunted reputations.
By all accounts the True Believers at Ford have delivered the best Mustang ever built – unless you fancy the normally-aspirated Shelby GT350, of course – and for a starting price of $70,000+ (although you can easily spend $20,000+ on options), it damn well better be.
(Ford)
That this seems to be Ford’s last gasp in the high-performance internal combustion arena, before it starts fumbling around with high-performance electrified crossovers – let’s hope the excruciatingly bad “Mach-E” moniker is just a code name for their “Mustang-inspired” SUV EV – is obvious. In fact, we’re witnessing the beginning of a clear demarcation in the automotive market as we know it, with the “new” represented by electrified vehicles of all stripes and the “old” being represented by internal combustion engine-powered vehicles.
Although I don’t think it will be that simple.
As I’ve stated many times before, “ICE” vehicles will be around for decades in various shapes, sizes and forms. And that will be especially true in the high-performance arena, where the sizzle and hum from electric EVs do not sit well with buyers who appreciate their high performance accompanied by a visceral soundtrack that hits the gut.
Yes, EVs can be blistering fast, that has been well documented time and again. But it’s how you go fast that will come into play for a lot of enthusiasts. Which is why cars like the new Shelby GT500 Mustang and the super-heated Challengers and Chargers from Dodge will continue to hold sway with enthusiasts for years to come. The same goes for the all-new mid-engine Corvette, and of course the exotics from Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren (and others). Porsche couldn’t possibly be hyping its new Taycan EV more, but the 911 and 718 sports cars will live on as ICEs, eventually with hybrid systems built-in, but that special sound will be part and parcel of the Porsche “aura” for the foreseeable future.
Back to this aforementioned clear demarcation thing. There are already pitchfork-wielding EV zealots out there vehemently denouncing drivers of ICE vehicles as pathetic Luddites who are clinging to the past. I suppose that is no surprise, after all why would we expect any different considering the uncivil behavior that passes for political discourse these days?
Before now the hoary formula proffered by the anti-car, anti-Detroit hordes was that Detroit = Bad, and everybody else, i.e., The Imports = Good. But Detroit got better at building cars and especially trucks and that formula is obsolete. Now, a new formula has emerged, which skips the anti-Detroit bashing altogether and which has EVs = Good, and everything else, specifically ICEs = Bad.
This abrupt demarcation may please the EV zealots, but it requires a suspension of belief that has no basis in reality. Yes, of course, EVs are coming, and a wide array of them in almost every segment you can think of too. But that doesn’t mean that the acceptance of EVs will be automatic, especially for lower-income buyers and people who live in apartment buildings with no easy access to overnight charging, to name two disconnects.
Just one example of the speculation about the degree of success that EVs will actually have? The entire industry is buzzing about VW’s major EV investment to the tune of over $50 billion, because it is either going to turn out to be the most brilliant thing the company has ever done post the Diesel debacle, or it could end up being a devastatingly slow starter that could cripple the company permanently. That’s the thing about demarcations these days. It’s rarely – if ever – a cut-and-dried proposition. Instead, it’s a divide with a huge gray area in-between, which will see some players succeed and others go down in flames.
I think EVs will have success in the higher-end segments and in very specific niche applications. For instance, Bollinger seems to have the right idea with its trucks in that they are starting with the premise that they have no intention of being all things to all people, and because of this “not for everyone” positioning the company has a good chance at being successful for buyers with access to horse country, hunting lodges and ranches, and who think nothing of spending thousands on a weekend hunting outfit, even though the only hunting they might do is for an older bourbon that no one else has.
As for the monster ICE machines, I say bring ‘em on. Because the day the sound and fury fades away is the day life as we know it will get darker and less interesting.
A scary thought indeed.
And that’s the High-Octane Truth for this week.