A report from Mustangs Daily—confirmed and added to by our friends at Road & Track—reveals that the next-generation Ford Mustang‘s SVT model will swap its Shelby GT500 moniker for a GT350 badge. Recall that the original GT350 lived alongside the GT500 back in the late 1960s, and Shelby American currently sells a GT350 apart from the Shelby GT500 sold through Ford dealers. Look for the new GT350 to arrive as a 2016 model about a year after the redesigned, un-retro 2015 Mustang arrives.
The name change will be accompanied by a slight change in character, as well. Today’s GT500 is a 662-hp, supercharged beast that feels more at home on a drag strip than a road course. Expect that to change with the new GT350, which reportedly will feature a naturally aspirated V-8 based on the Mustang GT’s 5.0-liter Coyote motor. R&T says the mill won’t necessarily displace 5.0 liters, though, and could pack even more displacement to help bolster its horsepower advantage over the regular Mustang GT.
More interesting still, like the original GT350, the new one will be more of a stripped-down, performance-oriented offering. Hopefully it isn’t too stripped down—as you can see from our original road test of a 1965 Shelby GT350, it basically was a race car—but Road & Track does hint that it could be priced lower than today’s nearly $55,000 GT500. As expected, when reached for comment, Ford refused to confirm or deny anything regarding the future Mustang or its possible variants. Our bet is that the GT350 will move to fill the void left by the now-departed Boss 302, but with the added cache of a Shelby badge. Either way, color us excited.
