Ford Mustang to get rugged and four door versions

Ford is considering expanding the line-up of its popular Mustang sportscar with more iterations at a time when the Mustang’s direct rival, the Chevrolet Camaro, is going off the shelves.

This week, at a meeting with its dealers in Las Vegas, Ford showed mock-ups of not one but two future iterations of the Mustang, as reported by Auto News. First up was the much-talked-about four-door Mustang, and Ford hinted at it by showing a “rendering” of the car. The update also said that the four-door Mustang would likely get the Mustang Mach 4 moniker upon debut. 

The brand has been hinting about this body style since 2022 when it released a sketch of a mystery coupe sedan. Even in May this year, Ford CEO Jim Farley hinted again at the four-door Mustang.

Speaking exclusively to our sister publication Autocar UK, he had then said, “We will never build a Mustang that isn’t a Mustang. For instance, there will never be room for a small, two-row Ford SUV with a Mustang badge stuck on it. But could we do other Mustang body forms – a 4-door or whatever? I believe we could, as long as these models have all the performance and attitude of the original.”

At the dealer event, Ford also showed a picture of an off-road-ready rugged Mustang with big tyres that hinted at rugged performance. This model could also get AWD tech, which Ford hinted at earlier for the latest-gen Mustang.

While the four-door Mustang has been long coming, the idea of a “rugged Mustang” seems to be inspired by the recent off-road versions of the Porsche 911 and the Lamborghini Huracan, with both the 911 Dakar and the Huracan Sterrato gaining huge popularity.

Ford hasn’t given a definitive timeline for the debuts of these two Mustangs, but the report says they will debut “soon”, with the brand Mustang having something for every type of customer at varied price points.

Ford Mustang: the India angle

The sixth-gen Mustang went on sale in India in 2016 with a 5.0-litre V8 GT variant. It was sold as a CBU till the car saw a mid-life update in 2020. The facelifted sixth-gen Mustang didn’t reach our shores as Ford shut shop here in 2021. The brand, however, is now looking to make a comeback with the all-new Everest SUV.