Once every decade or so, non-supercar-making car companies decide to flex their muscles and give Ferrari the fright of its life. We are talking about rare exotics like the Lexus LFA or the Ford GT. However, you can't scare Ferrari unless you actually drive through Maranello.
It seems Ford plans to do that with the next generation of the GT supercar, which they presented at the beginning of 2015 during the Detroit Auto Show. Speaking to Dutch magazine Autovisie, Ford official Jan Herzog confirmed limited numbers of the all-new machine will arrive in the old world.
It's been designed to be a much more exclusive speed machine than its predecessor, probably equipped with bespoke carbon fiber parts. Only 250 examples will roll out the factory gates every year, of which a few dozen will sit on European soil.
The old GT had a production run of 24 months, in which they built 4,500 cars. This one could have a much longer life cycle, the same report says, so maybe Ford wants to make halo vehicles more often.
The car you see in the photo gallery below is a pre-production concept, but the real thing is going to be close. Expected to go on sale as a 2017 model year, the GT has ditched the V8 engine for a 3.5-liter EcoBoost turbo monster making 600 hp.
When you can buy a 700 horsepower Dodge for $60k, maybe that's not very impressive. However, Ford seems to be into the same exotic aerodynamics, twin-clutch gearbox and super-light construction as McLaren.
If those aren't enough reasons to "Buy American", just have a quick listen to this exhaust sound.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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