Ford Motor Company revealed the most powerful series-production Mustang of the bunch in August 2023, when the Dearborn-based automaker promised a starting price of around $300,000 for the US market. Back in May 2024, the second-largest automaker of the Detroit Big Three upped the starting price to $325,000 for US customers.
Ridiculous money for an S650-gen Mustang, but looking at the bigger picture, not so ridiculous when compared to the GTD's price in Austria. The Ford Motor Company's online application form lists "from 525,500 euros" or 564,656 dollars at current exchange rates, with EU-market production to start in the spring of 2025.
We're not going to navigate Austria's tax system because that'll bore most readers to death, but as you might have guessed by now, high taxes are to blame for this insane recommended price. Other European countries where this corner-carving thriller costs a lot of moolah include Norway (5,479,000 kroner or just around 518,490 dollars) and the Netherlands (€476,800 or $512,300).
Poland (1,999,000 zloty or 496,775 dollars), Spain (€398,500 or $428,185), and Finland (€381,000 or $409,380) also need to be mentioned. Part of the reason why the Ford Motor Company is asking so much for a car with such a plasticky interior comes in the form of Multimatic, a.k.a. the Canadian firm that previously assembled the V6-powered GT.
Multimatic also manufactures the carbon-fiber monocoque of the Aston Martin Valkyrie. Remember the Bronco DR from 2021? That's assembled by Multimatic in Canada as well. In addition to said company, remember that Mustang GTD is bodied in lightweight carbon fiber.
Photo: Ford
The driveshaft is carbon fiber as well, whereas the front and rear fascias can be carbon fiber as long as you're prepared to pay extra. The list of optional extras made from this composite further includes an aerodynamic package that – in theory – should enable a sub-7-minute lap of the Nurburgring.
That's 992.1-gen Porsche 911 GT3 RS territory, with said Neunelfer clocking 6:49.328 on the full 20.8-km lap or 6:44.848 for the shorter version. The folks at Sport Auto lapped the Green Hell in 7:52 with the original Ford GT, as in the V8-powered brute rather than its V6-engined successor. To this day, it remains the fastest series-production Ford on the world's most grueling racetrack. The S550-gen Mustang Mach 1, by comparison, required 7:58 to complete a lap with Christian Gebhardt driving.
It should be highlighted that Euro-spec ponies are not as potent as their American counterparts. The aforementioned Mach 1 belts out 460 pferdstarke in this part of the world, whereas a similar Mach 1 produced for the US develops 480 horsepower.
This rule of thumb applies to the S650-generation Mustang GT and Mustang Dark Horse as well, namely 446 and 453 ps, meaning 440 and 447 mechanical stallions compared to 480/486 and 500 in the United States. On that note, it should come as no surprise that both are pricier in Europe. Over in Germany, they're retailing at €65,000 ($69,840) and €72,500 ($77,900) compared to $42,460 and $58,935.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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