With 540 horses under the hood, there weren’t (and aren’t) too many vehicles on the market that will keep up with this thing – the last year’s Shelby GT500 model was an absolute beast. Staying true to the Shelby name, the 2010 Shelby GT500 became an instant unicorn to many Mustang lovers. But at times it was just that – a beast.
Earlier today, the fine engineers at Ford’s SVT (Special Vehicles Team) unveiled the 2011 Shelby GT500 with a host of improvements. The question is, why would Ford tinker with this beast in only the second model year?
Take for example, the Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet Camaro. The Challenger was introduced in 2008, has there been any notable improvements to the car in 2009 or 2010? How about the Camaro? It debuted about the same time as the 2010 Ford Mustang. Yet, the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro is mostly a carryover from the 2010 model.
There lie the differences between the industry leaders and the followers. Chevrolet (GM) boys are busy arguing that they sold more Camaros than the Mustang in 2009, Dodge (Chrysler) guys are still struggling to transfer their papers to Fiat, and Ford… they’ve been busy listening to its customers and making improvements.
Ford has stiffened and lightened up the chassis, all across the Mustang line (not just for the Shelby GT500), the engines are all new for the Mustang platform (featuring some state-of-art technologies), and the SVT engineers went with the electric assisted power steering system (which saves gas and carry less mechanical parts). The SVT engineers are promising that the 2011 Shelby GT500 has world-class steering feedback, and more nimble handling feel to the car. The Mustang platform was already the most nimble “muscle car” from the Detroit 3 (Ford, GM, and Chrysler), so we don’t doubt them.
Other improvements to the car is as follows:
- 550HP (from 540HP in 2010)
- 510TQ (from 480TQ in 2010)
- Stiffer chassis for the convertible
- Improved suspension control
- Improved underbody aerodynamics
- 15 city/23 highway MPG (no longer gas guzzler taxed)
Of course, the car is not available for test drives, as of yet… and as soon as it is, we’ll try our best to get our hands on it.
-KF
