LOS ANGELES — The Giugiaro family, through its firm Italdesign, has crafted hundreds of eye-catching concept and production vehicles for many of the world's top automakers.
Now, Fabrizio and Giorgetto Giugiaro have created a futuristic spin on a retro American muscle-car icon, the Ford Mustang.
The Mustang by Giugiaro concept is making its debut this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
The design study boasts some striking features, notably scissors-style doors that swing upward at the touch of a button and vestigial tailfins on the carbon-fiber fenders.
The car is wider than the production Mustang, with a longer hood and more of a fastback profile. A single curved-glass roof panel bridges the windshield and backlight and filters out ultraviolet rays.
Bespoke three-piece taillamps are linked to louver panels that replace the production model's rear side windows. The cockpit is upholstered in — what else? — dark-brown mottled horsehide, with horse logo accents throughout the cabin.
Ford Racing Technologies provided the powertrain and chassis modifications. The 4.6-liter V8 has been fitted with an intercooled twin-screw supercharger and other enhancements, boosting output to 500 horsepower. A handling pack, inspired by the FR500C racing car, bundles tuned shocks, lowered springs and stabilizer bars.
The car rides on 20-inch wheels and tires.
What this means to you: It sure doesn't look like any Detroit muscle car we've ever seen.
What's special about it?
Italian design and American muscle might have worked for Rocky Balboa, but when it comes to cars it's an odd combination. The debut of the Mustang by Giugiaro isn't the first time the two have come together, however, as Giorgetto Giugiaro, founder of Giugiaro Design, fused the two to create the Bertone Mustang in 1965. It was an unusual take on a legendary car, and when the 2005 Ford Mustang debuted, Giorgetto and his son Fabrizio immediately saw another chance to apply their design expertise to another Mustang.
This time around, the work was done by Fabrizio, a noted fan of American performance cars and designer of the 2003 Corvette Moray concept. Completed in just four months, the younger Giugiaro sought to give this concept a unique look without losing the Mustang's trademark design details.
The transformation started with a slightly wider body that adds an extra 30mm in front and 80mm in back. It's enough to make you notice a difference, but it avoids the typical big-fendered look of most aftermarket kits. From there, Fabrizio gave this Mustang a much longer, lower profile thanks to an innovative panoramic roof built by a Detroit area supplier. It's made from a special crystal that filters out 100 percent of UVA rays so you can enjoy unobstructed views without getting cooked.
From there, he turned his attention to the details. In back, Fabrizio added a twist to the Mustang's classic three-lens taillights by giving them a new overall shape that not only looks more modern, it mimics the rear window louvers. Up front, Giugiaro maintained the unmistakable shape of the headlights, but added LED lights that match the body's eye-catching orange color.
Open up the dramatic scissor doors and you're greeted with an unusual set of brown horse-hide seats complete with Mustang logos in the headrests. Additional detailing was added to the dash and gauge cluster, but much of the Mustang's distinctive cabin design was left intact.
More than just a design concept, this Mustang was built to run with help from Ford Racing. Starting with a standard GT's 4.6-liter V8, Ford's engineers added a twin-screw supercharger, Ford GT fuel injectors, larger mass air meter and a free flow filter. Along with Ford Racing muffler and an X-pipe, this concept delivers an estimated 500 horsepower.
To keep up with the extra punch, a standard Ford handling pack was added. Available for all stock GTs, it adds revised shocks, springs and sway bars. Combined with the one-off 20-inch wheels and 315/35 tires in back and 275/40 tires in front, Giugiaro's Mustang "handles as good as it looks" according to Fabrizio.
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In my opinion the front end reminds me too much of the forthcoming Chevrolet Camaro. Not too mention with all the curves and swerves of this Italian built Mustang, it loses some of it's muscular-look properties. Taillamps do nothing for me either although I understand they are trying to go futuristic with it. The glassback roof is sick looking although I doubt it'll make it into production (there's a similar product available for the current gen Mustang). With the trunk molded/shaved(?), it'll be interesting to see if this car would actually be a coupe Mustang or a hatchback Mustang. With the way it curves into the trunk area, I would believe it would be a hatch, which I think would be welcome by a lot of Mustang fanatics. I read somewhere that while the Mustang GT500 will continue to get more retro with each refreshing, the other models (GT, v6) will continue to look more "futuristic" so this may be the way of the redesigned Mustang come 2009 - 2010.
Cadwz24(Projected1) wrote:hot
thats exactly what i was going to post
i need to see it in person to get a final decision
Thats badass... looks a lot like the Camero concept from the front though:
Same body line on the lower doors, rear quarter panel rise, angle on the front mouth/grille, headlights have same "swoop" on the outside....
Still cool looking, but the similarities standout I think.
another sweeeet looking concept car that wont see production
You are looking at the updated version of Mustang that will come for 2009... expect it to be watered down a bit from that.
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I wish they'd stop coming out with new versions of old muscle cars and create something new and unique and put it into production..then again i guess thats too much to ask for.
Don't get me wrong, all of those pics above make me want to empty the wallet out. But do they have to take advantage of the sentiment that goes with the name just to sell the model?
I'm not impressed. It's taking already watered down body style and throwing jello mix at it... Doesn't look like a Mustang to me.
Teske: I think the body line is similar, but the Mustang concept has a more pronounced "lovers dip" (where the line hitches up at the end of the side windows). All muscle cars had that once upon a time.
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looks like the camaro concept had a baby with the current mustang
I barfed all over the place.. The single piece windshield.. ughh ulgly.. The rear end, super ugly.. The front end, is kinda ok.. But overall, it's disgusting.
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not impressed. it just doesn't feel like a mustang. I mean.. it looks more like a vette or something smoother, and I've never thought of the mustang as a curvilinear car, needs more angles...
get used to it guys
expect to see more radical @!#$ like that in the future
I said something funny?
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I'd buy one, though, as mentioned, the first pic reminded me instantly of the new camaro. Perhaps not calling it a mustang would allow more people to like it...
the only mustangs i ever liked were the shelby's, so this score points for including the rear quarter window louvers as a throwback to those, but even still, its ugly, even for a mustang....
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first pic , skyline gtr came to mind
camaro wasnt even thought of
i kinda like it , the interior kinda reminds of the camaro , in its material look
god i hope that isnt the new mustang.....the outside passenger compartment is the only thing that looks good
My car may run 18s, but I can do your taxes in 10 seconds flat.
JBO lube - they would never have enough in stock and we'd never see RodimusPrime again
Don't quite understand the point of having the taillight curl up the body like that, but I assume its just for a more symmetrical look.
