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2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Rendered, Could Pack Over 707 HP

Take a look at everything that’s happening with Crysler’s 707 hp Hellcat these days. Mouth-watering 1/4 mile times, burnouts and more burnouts. Somebody wearing a Blue Oval badge on his suit isn’t very happy about this, so here’s what you should expect for the 2016 Mustang Shelby GT500.
2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Rendering 1 photo
Photo: original image by autoevolution
The new generation of the Mustang is rumoured to bring the 2016 Shelby GT500 to weight of about 3,500 lbs (1,590 kg). Ask Mr. Scale and you’ll be told this makes the Shelby Mustang almost 1,000 lbs (450 kg) lighter than the Challenger Hellcat.

And while the latter does beat the 2013-2014 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 in the quarter mile game, the difference isn’t actually all that big (11.2 vs 11.5 seconds). Sure, the comparo is more complex, as Chrysler has only released the figures for the automatic Hellcat, which is expected to be the faster model, whereas the ‘Stang is only offered with a manual.

This means that the Mustang doesn’t need to be taken past its current 662 hp muscle rating in order to beat the Challenger. Then again, this is Ford, not Lamborghini with its diet-focused Manifesto for future Supersportscars. What this means is that the Blue Oval may just want to honor the Mustang’s tradition and up the ante on the power front just to keep its pony ahead of what the Mopar fans get to drive.

While Ford has been supercharging its Mustangs for quite a while now, the Hellcat is the first blown Hemi in the history of Chrysler, which should make the Blue Oval even more determined to recover its HP crown.

The rumor mill points out that the sleeker design of the new Mustang may not offer enough room for the current Trinity 5.8-liter supercharged engine and yet this is pure speculation.

One more argument in favor of the GT500’s potential upmuscle move is the future arrival of the 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 that’s been recently spied. Honed as a successor for the awe-inspiring Boss 302, the GT350 will be the most powerful naturally-aspirated Mustang and should squeeze about 550 ponies out of the Mustang GT’s 5.0-liter V8 Coyote mill. In the upgrade process, which will bring over 100 hp, the unit will receive goodies such as a flat-plane crankshaft. Oh and by the way, Chrysler isn’t the only one coming up with cool names for its V8s, as the transformation should see the unit renamed as Voodoo.

While we’re expecting the GT350 test engineers to listen to The Prodigy when the Vodoo engine is off, all the aforementioned clues also lead us to believe that a 750 hp figure for the 2016 Shelby GT500 isn’t all that far from reality.

In this muscle car power war frenzy, we mustn’t forget that the independent rear suspension brought by the Mustang’s new S550 platform means the engineers have a lot of work to do in order to put the power down. In fact, we’re wondering who spends more nights on duty, those working on the mechanical stuff or the employees that develop the new electronics governing all that muscle.

Until we get an answer, we’ve decided to spend an evening at the office too. The rendering above is the result of that.
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About the author: Andrei Tutu
Andrei Tutu profile photo

In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
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