After decades of dominating the pony car sales charts, the Ford Mustang has finally met its match in the latest Chevrolet Camaro. Naturally, this high-profile segment, is one that Ford is loathe to concede. After being infused with completely new engines in 2011, the Mustang will soon receive a visual refreshening that aligns this horse’s looks even more with the range-topping Shelby GT500 model.
Autoblog spy photographers have snapped a Mustang GT prototype with just a thin layer of 3M vinyl hiding the changes. Up front, you can clearly see the GT500’s influence in this Mustang prototype’s protruding grille. Also note that the coupe has dropped the Mustang GT’s circular, grille-mounted foglamps, as well as swapped out its galloping horse badge for a new logo that’s been moved from the center of the grille to the side. Even the lower air intake is shaped like an open smile, just like on the current GT500. And, is that a splitter we see hanging off the car’s chin?
We can also see brand new projector beam headlights up front with some LED tech buried within, and out back, the rear end gets new taillights. That rear wing is also new, and the rear bumper has been slightly redesigned as well.
Ford clearly hopes to imbue the Mustang GT with the GT500’s aggressive looks, and these spy shots show they’re on-track to do just that. Will it be enough to boost sales above the Camaro? We’ll see. The more interesting question is once the Mustang GT looks like the GT500, what will Ford do with its most powerful pony car? With the impending arrival of the 580-horsepower Camaro ZL1, we’re sure Ford’s got something planned.
autoblog
