Ford already has provided an early look at its freshened 2018 Mustang lineup, which goes on sale this fall without a V-6 model between the base turbocharged four-cylinder version—now with more power—and the Mustang GT with its enhanced 5.0-liter Coyote V-8. But the V-6 wasn’t the only pony missing from the stable; the most awesome Mustang in history and a reigning 10Best Cars winner, the Shelby GT350, also was M.I.A. And if the headline of a recent press release from Ford is anything to go by—“Ford Extends Shelby GT350 and GT350R Mustang Availability to 2018 Model Year”—the automaker hadn’t necessarily planned to bring it back.
Of course, it’s not a huge surprise that Ford would decide to continue building a high-demand, award-winning, and presumably quite profitable halo car at the very peak of its popularity. That said, with the GT receiving major powertrain upgrades plus the GT350’s trick magnetic shocks, and an even more powerful (and still unconfirmed) GT500 likely to snatch the GT350’s tiara when it arrives in the next several months to fight the mighty Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, Ford probably could get by without the GT350. But that would be crazy, we say, especially with archrival Chevrolet’s answer to the GT350, the Camaro Z/28, likely to stay in Chevy’s corral until the 2019 model year.
The 2018 GT350 models will not receive the mid-cycle enhancements applied to the base and GT models, however, including revised styling and features inside and out. The availability of three new colors—Orange Fury, Kona Blue, and Lead Foot Gray—are the only changes of note for 2018 GT350s. It’s worth mentioning that all GT350s from the 2017 model year forward have coolers for the transmission and the rear differential, after early GT350 examples not equipped with those features—which were optional in 2016—allegedly were prone to overheating on the track.
So what’s with the announcement for a carryover product? A Ford spokesman told us, “When we introduced the GT350 in 2015, we did not confirm how many years of production would follow.” We figured Ford would keep building the GT350 until it was rendered obsolete or was replaced by another one. Heck, will the GT350 even last for the entire 2018 model year once the 2018 models start rolling into dealerships this fall? Who knows? In the meantime, we’re happy that Ford will keep the GT350 in the mix, at least for the near future.
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