Ford Insider: 2015 Mustang EcoBoost to pack 300hp, GT gets 475hp

It is no secret that the next generation Ford Mustang will arrive for the 2015 model year and while it has long been believed that the upcoming Mustang will pack an EcoBoost 4-cylinder engine – an unnamed Ford employee working on the Mustang project recently told a Mustang forum member that the EcoBoost is indeed on the way. The Mustang EcoBoost engine will measure 2.5 liters and offer around 300 horsepower. This same source explained that the 3.7L V6 that currently serves as the base model Mustang engine could climb into the range of 400 horsepower while the 5.0L Mustang GT could offer as much as 475 horsepower. This information comes to us via the Mustang experts at American Muscle via their company blog.

Now, as I write this piece I am sure that there will be skeptics who point out a lack of validity with these leaked 2015 Ford Mustang details. This information comes from a forum member who spoke with an unnamed member of the 2015 Mustang project team and that paper trail is a bit on the sketchy side but this leaked information is concrete as any other leaked information from an official source who insists on remaining unnamed and unofficial. However, these details seem to be right in line with what we have heard over the past year or so and this new information on the EcoBoost 4-cylinder mill is well within the range of realistic possibilities for 2015. It has been speculated that the Mustang EcoBoost package would offer around 300 horsepower so even an official statement from Ford that the 4-cylinder EcoBoost would pack that power wouldn’t come as a big surprise.

Perhaps the hardest piece of 2015 Ford Mustang information to swallow is the suggestion that the next generation Mustang GT will pack 475 (or more) horsepower. The current Mustang GT makes 420 horsepower and with the Chevrolet Camaro SS offering 426 horsepower, we all expected that the 5.0L V8 in the GT models would get a bump to somewhere in the area of 450 horsepower. However, 475 horsepower in the next generation GT models would give the Mustang and overpowering advantage in the battle with the Camaro. Luckily, with the high end Mustang Shelby GT500 packing 662 horsepower, there is plenty of room for Ford to increase the output of the Mustang GT without creating any real in-house competition with the GT500 super-Stang.

Should this information prove to be true when the 2015 Ford Mustang debuts, it will be interesting to see what Ford does with the 3.7L V6. This engine currently serves as the base engine and the most efficient engine in the Mustang lineup but it is widely expected that the EcoBoost Mustang will offer better fuel economy than the V6 models. The question is whether Ford will indeed give the V6 a boost in power to distance itself from the EcoBoost 4-cylinder or if Ford will have the EcoBoost 4 and the V6 offering the same power with the EcoBoost coming with much better MPGs and a bigger price tag. Ford could make the EcoBoost Mustang the base model with the best fuel economy and 300 horsepower with the V6 getting somewhere closer to 400 horsepower or both could have around 300 horsepower with the more efficient EcoBoost option serving as an upgrade to the standard V6. With this second scenario, the V6 would continue being the base engine for the 2015 Mustang with 305 (or so) horsepower while the EcoBoost 4-cylinder mill would come with an upcharge for similar power but much better fuel economy.

Again, this information could be taken with a grain of salt since it comes from a guy who met a guy but with so little information and so much speculation around the 2015 Ford Mustang – this is one more healthy dose of information to fuel the rumormill. The 2015 Ford Mustang is expected to arrive on April 17th 2014 – exactly 50 years to the day that the very first Mustang was introduced at the New York World’s Fair.

Courtesy of Torque News