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Rumor: Facelift, 10-Speed Automatic, And New Mach 1 For 2018?

Currently in the Mustang world, it seems like all the buzz has been centered around the ’16 Shelby GT350 and GT350-R, and for good reason too. At this time, we only have four models available from Ford to choose from: the entry-level V6, the mid-level Ecoboost, the big GT, and of course the top tier GT350/GT350-R. The S550 platform has been extremely popular ever since the first ’15 models hit showroom floors less than a year ago, and we’d have to agree. We got the chance to review it back in late September ’14. And it’s been outselling the Camaro and Challenger for nine months in a row.

We also have our own ’15 Mustang, which is an Ecoboost model dubbed Project 5-Liter Eater. We’ve done a lot of upgrades to our project car over the last year, and we think it’s safe to say, the S550 Mustang is a fantastic platform. So with all the popularity in the current ’15 Mustang, we want to know how blue oval fans would feel about this rumor – which is brought to us by Autonews.

The source makes some very strong claims, stating that the 2018 Mustang will receive a facelift and a few mechanical updates. The visual facelift will most likely be centered around a new grille and front fascia, and the mechanical updates include the possible integration of a 10-speed automatic transmission. There’s also speculation around Ford offering a Mach 1 model around late 2019, early 2020.

If you ask us, these rumors may not be too far off from the truth. If we look at Ford’s history with updates to the 5th generation Mustang, you’ll notice the path is quite similar. When Ford released the 5th generation S197 (’05-’14) Mustang, it received a facelift for 2010 and again for the ’13-’14 year models. We also received the second generation Boss 302 for the ’12-’13 model years, nearing the end of the 5th generation Mustang. As you can see, there’s definitely a pattern there. We think it’s safe to say Ford might just surprise us in the next few years.