cars news 10: 2020 Mustang Hybrid: What to Expect From Ford’s First Hybrid Pony Car

It’s official. The Ford Mustang Hybrid will make its debut in 2020. The electrified pony car will likely be the first of its kind: an American rear-drive coupe with a hybrid powertrain. Hybrids have come a long way; supercars including the Porsche 918 Spyder and McLaren P1 take advantage of the additional power of electric motors to achieve optimal performance, and this will only become more common as electrified powertrains spread across the industry. Although Ford is still developing the Mustang Hybrid, here’s our best guess on what to expect from the new muscle car variant.

Current Mustangs are pictured below

The Electrified Powertrain

The Mustang Hybrid’s powertrain will be more efficient than a V-8 but—Ford claims—will deliver V-8 power and “even more low-end torque.” To make this possible, the Blue Oval will likely use a traditional hybrid system consisting of an electric motor sandwiched between the gasoline engine and the transmission. The EcoBoost 2.3-liter turbo-four will likely be the gasoline engine of choice and could be tuned to produce more than the 310 hp and 350 lb-ft of torque it currently makes. The current 10-speed automatic could back the hybrid powertrain instead of a CVT, which is what you find in many hybrids.

There is another plausible but less likely hybrid powertrain option. If the upcoming Focus RS does use a 2.3-liter turbo-four (transverse-mounted) with a mild hybrid system, that same system could be strapped on the Mustang’s longitudinal-mounted 2.3-liter turbo-four. However, the smaller electric motor would not produce as much power as a full-hybrid system.

Although it’s possible the Mustang could be a plug-in hybrid, we expect the Ford will be a regular hybrid with all-electric driving available when cruising at low speeds. The upcoming F-150 Hybrid—due for release by 2020—could share a similar powertrain with the Mustang Hybrid because both rear-drive vehicles use the same 10-speed automatic and have longitudinal-mounted engines.

Power and Performance

With the additional power from the electric motor and a potential power bump to the 2.3 EcoBoost engine, the Mustang Hybrid could potentially produce about 400 hp and well over 400 lb-ft. That is not far off from the Mustang GT’s 460-hp, 420-lb-ft 5.0-liter V-8. Although down on horsepower, the electric powertrain should not only produce more torque than the V-8, but it will also hit much earlier in the powerband thanks to the instant—and significant—torque from the electric motor and turbocharged engine.

The current EcoBoost Mustang with the 10-speed auto hit 60 mph in 5.3 seconds and the quarter mile in 13.9 seconds at 97.2 mph during Motor Trend testing. With additional power and more low-end torque, the Mustang Hybrid could knock off about half a second from the above 0–60 and quarter-mile times, but Ford won’t let the Mustang Hybrid be quicker than its V-8-powered GT.

With efficiency not the main priority for this hybrid powertrain (as it is for a Prius or Ioniq), expect better fuel economy than the EcoBoost Mustang’s 25 mpg combined driving rating (21/32 mpg city/highway) but nothing drastic. Still, that’s much better than the GT’s fuel economy rating of 19 mpg combined (16/25 mpg city/highway).

Hybrid Tech

Like any modern hybrid, the Mustang Hybrid will use regenerative braking to slow the pony car down and recharge the battery pack. For those who want to get the most efficiency out of the hybrid powertrain, Ford should offer an Eco mode that can reduce power but improve fuel economy. As with other Ford hybrids, an instrument panel display could communicate real-time efficiency, the battery’s power level, and whether the battery is charging or generating power.

Hybrid Styling

When it makes its debut in 2020, the Mustang Hybrid will probably look like the regular Mustang but with subtle hybrid badging and unique exterior details that set it apart from the rest of the gas-only lineup. Inside, expect unique hybrid-only accents and stitching (possibly in green).

Driving Modes

The Mustang Hybrid will probably have Normal and Power/Sport driving modes (in addition to an Eco mode). In Normal mode, the Mustang will probably act like a normal hybrid car with the electric motor acting alone during gentle initial takeoffs from a stop, at slow parking lot speeds, and intermittently during highway cruising. In Power/Sport mode, the electric motor and gas engine can always work together to give the driver maximum power output.

Driver Assist Safety

Ford’s new suite of driver-assist technologies, dubbed Ford Co-Pilot360, will likely be standard on the Mustang by 2020, including the upcoming hybrid model. The package of active safety tech includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind-spot monitoring with cross-traffic alert, a lane keeping system, automatic high-beams, and a rearview camera. An adaptive cruise control system and reverse automatic braking will likely be available.

Possible V-8 Hybrid?

If Ford is producing a Mustang Hybrid that with V-8 power, why not make an eight-cylinder Mustang Hybrid delivering supercar power? Adding the power of an electric motor to the 5.0 or the outrageous 5.2-liter V-8 in the GT350 will significantly increase power output and performance potential. That is basically what Porsche does to the lineup of the Panamera, which offers six- and eight-cylinder E-Hybrid models. Will Ford adopt a similar strategy with the Mustang? We look forward to finding out.

2020 Mustang Hybrid: What to Expect From Ford’s First Hybrid Pony Car