New York (CNN) It seemed like a good idea at the time. Exciting indeed. He could take a ride in what will soon be America’s last gas-powered muscle car with the woman responsible for putting it into production and hitting the streets. But we were in New York, it was four in the afternoon, and I should have known better.
Laurie Transou recently assumed the position of Principal Program Engineer for the Ford Mustang. She is in charge of the final adjustments and production launch of the new 2024 Mustang. As with all Mustangs of the past 59 years, this new one will be available only with gasoline engines. During what turned out to be a very long drive over a very short distance, I learned a little about her and Ford’s decision to keep the Mustang going after nearly 60 years.
Transou and others at Ford will tell you there is an electric Mustang, the Mustang Mach-E SUV. But we weren’t talking about this Mustang. Because of the way Ford is organized now, with separate operating divisions in charge of gas and electric vehicles (Ford Blue and Ford Model E, respectively), Transou is not in charge of the Mustang Mach-E. That’s someone else’s job.
As we took off, there was a burst of speed and a throaty V8 engine roar as we barreled down Manhattan’s 10th Avenue. Transou was behind the wheel because reporters aren’t allowed to drive the 2024 Mustang until a few things are finalized. Still, I was having what would become, in the years to come, an increasingly rare experience.
Transou never said a bad word about the Mustang Mach-E, but as someone who learned to drive a manual transmission car in a Mustang as a teenager, he clearly has a personal attachment.
“We have our Mustang Mach-E. It goes incredibly fast in a straight line,” he said. “This Mustang can go fast, but it also has that amazing handling and steering and then the exhaust note. So each one offers something a little different.”
Also, the Mach-E’s zero fuel consumption helps lower Ford’s corporate average fuel economy, as regulators watch. That means Ford doesn’t have to worry as much about selling those gas-guzzling two-door Mustangs.
The car we were in, the Mustang coupe, is already a rarity in the American auto industry. First, it’s the only real car Ford currently sells in the United States. Every other Ford product sold here is a truck or SUV. Second, its main competitors, the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger, are going out of production next year. GM has already announced that it plans to sell nothing but electric passenger vehicles by 2035, and besides, the Camaro hasn’t really been a match for the Mustang in the competition that counts: sales.
As for the Challenger, it’s been popular, but Dodge’s parent company Stellantis doesn’t currently have the electric vehicles to make up for sales of those big V8s for fuel economy and emissions regulations. So, Dodge is planning to come out with an electric electric car.
Given room to breathe, the Mustang will remain, a kind of living fossil from an era before motoring. That’s, of course, part of its enduring charm, and probably one of the reasons Ford decided not to even offer a hybrid version, at least for now.
“The choice at the moment was to lean on the ICE engine and everything that an ICE engine has to offer,” Transou said, using an industry term for an internal combustion engine.
Customers who like the resonant sound might like a hybrid at some point “if we decide to offer it,” he said.
Once we’d made it a few blocks southbound on 10th Avenue with little more traffic, it was time to head back north, or in Manhattan parlance, uptown. It was then that I realized our mistake. Once we headed back north, we headed into the Lincoln Tunnel at rush hour.
The 500 horsepower V8 engine in the new Mustang Dark Horse is simple. No turbocharging or anything like that. And it’s still offered with a manual transmission of the type Transou was using, wearing out your left leg on the clutch pedal, and rarely going past first gear in stuck traffic.
About 40 percent of V8 Mustang buyers get a manual transmission, he said, for that truly classic driving experience.
“I think once you learn to drive a manual, it’s such an engaging and fun experience,” he said. “It’s like you’re part of the unit.”
Even from the passenger seat, this didn’t look captivating and fun.
The modern “high-tech” option when it comes to the Mustang is the 315-horsepower “EcoBoost” turbocharged 4-cylinder engine that, Transou noted, provides much more power than the big V8 in the 1991 Mustang that had when was young man The efficient 4-cylinder will now only be available with an automatic transmission. I complained about this – I liked the 4-cylinder with manual transmission, a combination you can still get in the current Mustang, but I don’t think it will change my mind.
As you might guess, since he grew up with a Mustang and is now in charge of the Mustang program, Transou has a connection to Ford.
“I’ve been in and around the business for over 30 years,” he said.
His father worked at Ford. Her husband also works at Ford. So do his father-in-law, brother and brother-in-law. Also the four children.
Just before switching jobs to lead the launch of the Mustang, he broadly oversaw Ford’s iconic brands, which include the Mustang, Bronco and F-150. He participated in the plans for new Mustang derivatives and special editions. No matter how long we sat in traffic, she didn’t reveal any of it beyond the Dark Horse model we were already sitting on. But derivatives, like the expensive Shelby models, are how Ford can make a lot of money even with all the expensive engineering development of what is essentially a “niche” product.
For now, the future of the Ford Mustang is simply that it’s still here, still buzzing, and promised more news to come.
