The problem with fuel-efficient, hybrid vehicles is that, well, they’re fuel-efficient and hybrid. This stigma that you must buy a Prius in order to save gas and save the planet, all the while sucking your soul out a bit more each time you get behind the wheel of your eco-loving vehicle still very much exists today.
Well, Ford is here to change that stigma.
We’re already well aware that electric/hybrid supercars are very much in the realm of possibility; I’m talking Porsche 918, Ferrari LaFerrari, McLaren P1… but then, who can actually afford one of these fun-to-drive hybrid cars? Um, no one.
So, when it comes time to choose a high-performance hybrid, options are limited (if any).
For the diehard Mustang fan, this might seem like sacrilege, like a blasphemous act on an American icon that changed the face of affordable performance vehicles in the 1960s when it first appeared. But, hang on a moment; throwing a hybrid engine beside a gas engine you already know and love (V8 perhaps?) isn’t necessarily going to ruin the experience. If anything, it’s going to enhance it, offer an extra boost in power, and save you money at the pumps.
Do we all recall the Honda Accord Hybrid? Or even the Porsche Cayenne Hybrid isn’t all bad (perhaps that’s not the best example, but you know what I mean). Adding a hybrid power source to an already fun-to-drive muscle car seems like a logical and forward-thinking step, in my mind.
Ford is taking an icon and reinventing it, yet again. I seem to remember the Pony Car community getting all up in arms when the Blue Oval threw an EcoBoost turbocharged 4-cylinder engine into the Mustang. How could they?! Not a V6? Not a V8? Not a big honking American gas-guzzling beast?! SACRILIGE! And yet, the Mustang continued to thrive and the EcoBoost stuck around, and (dare I say) was even liked by Mustang drivers and owners.
Hats off to you, Ford, for bringing something new and interesting to a car that’s already well-liked just the way it is. Who knows, maybe the Mustang Hybrid will become the ultimate fuel-efficient pony car.
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