A nasty rumor began circulating on Mustang web sites and Facebook groups this week that Ford was enacting a plan to phase out its V8 engines after 2018.*The original publisher*of the rumor, HorsepowerKings.com, cites*an unnamed source who states that the Blue Oval’s V8 engines only have a few more years to live due to tightening CAFE fuel economy regulations.
However, the rumor is “utterly and completely absurd, fabricated and ridiculous” according to Ford Global Powertrain Communications manager Paul Seredynski. “The V-8 still plays an important role in our product lineup, having just launched the new 5.0-liter V-8 in the 2015 Mustang,” he continued. “We’ve also announced another upcoming new V8 – the flat-plane 5.2-liter – in the GT350 and GT350R.”
That said, Ford will likely*be downsizing many of its engines in the future even in many of its performance oriented cars. The new Ford Performance division (the merging of SVT, Ford Europe’s Team RS, and Ford Racing) unveiled three new vehicles at this week’s North American International Auto Show: the Shelby GT350R, F-150 Raptor, and Ford GT. The Raptor and GT are powered by high-performance V6 engines, replacing the V8 in their predecessors, although*the Shelby GT350R and its slightly tamer sibling, the Shelby GT350, house an all-new 500-horsepower 5.2L V8 engine.
Regardless, Mustang fans will be glad to know that a V8 option will be available for a long time to come. “We haven’t even launched our newest V8 yet, so that tells you how far down the road we’re looking,” Seredynski told us. “And we still have our diesel V8s in our trucks. The Ford V8 isn’t going anywhere.”
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