The Ford Mustang V8 is set to live on, with a hybrid V8 powertrain set to be fitted to the upcoming four-door model shown to dealers in the US earlier this month.
According to The Wall Street Journal, multiple sources who attended the Mustang four-door reveal said it would use hybrid power, without providing any other powertrain specifics, while another said it would be a hybrid V8.
The automaker has yet to publicly confirm the four-door Mustang or the powertrains it’s considering for the new model.
As far back as 2021, Automotive News reported Ford was working on a hybrid Mustang for launch in 2025, while references to 2.3-litre four-cylinder and 5.0-litre V8 hybrid powertrains appeared on the LinkedIn profile of an engineer who worked on the current S650-series Mustang.
Sources later told Automotive News in 2022 that proposed hybrid variants of the Mustang, as well as a new all-wheel drive option, had been cancelled. Two years later, however, Ford Authority reported a hybrid Mustang was back in development.
One of Ford’s most important models alongside its F-Series pickups, the rear-wheel drive Mustang ‘pony car’ has avoided any form of hybrid or electrification – discounting the unrelated Mustang Mach-E electric SUV – despite rivals taking the plunge.
This has included US rivals such as the Dodge Charger, available in two- and four-door body styles, which saw petrol engines reintroduced in 2025 after an electric-only version launched the previous year failed to sell strongly.
Chevrolet axed the Camaro, the Mustang’s arch-rival, in 2023, although it may return as a four-door sedan for the 2029 model year as a rival to the upcoming Mustang and Charger four-doors. It’s unclear if it’ll follow the Chevrolet Corvette sports car, which gained a 6.2-litre V8 hybrid powertrain with its latest C8 generation.
More broadly, Mercedes-AMG dropped V8 engines from its C63 sedan and wagon in favour of a plug-in hybrid four-cylinder powertrain, later admitting the move was a mistake following a dramatic sales plunge, while Porsche introduced a hybrid version of its iconic 911 sports car alongside non-hybrid models.
The current 5.0-litre V8 is the fourth generation of Ford’s ‘Coyote’ engine and makes 345kW/550Nm in the current Mustang GT sold in Australia, increasing to 349kW/548Nm in the Dark Horse and Dark Horse T8-Spec Pack versions.
The engine also forms the basis of V8s used in other models, including the F-Series, and is the backbone of several factory-backed Ford Racing programs, including sports car competition and Australia’s Supercars category.
Ford CEO Jim Farley has previously said the Blue Oval will continue making V8s for “as long as God and the politicians let us”.
Ongoing production of the Coyote may also enable the Mustang, which remains Australia’s best-selling sports car year-to-date in 2026, to continue offering a six-speed manual transmission.
Sales of conventional non-plug-in hybrids in the US have increased significantly over the past three years, rising 169 per cent between 2022 and 2025, with more than two million sold last year to account for 12.7 per cent of new-car sales.
So far in 2026, hybrid sales in the US are at a record 16 per cent market share.
A potential avenue for a hybrid Mustang may also lie in its entry-level Ecoboost versions, which use a 2.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine and 10-speed automatic.
Ford produced a plug-in hybrid version of this engine for its current Ford Ranger, where it uses the 10-speed transmission and offers 207kW/697Nm, 2.9L/100km fuel economy and only 66g/km of carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions.
In Australian versions of the Mustang, the smaller engine makes 232kW/475Nm, with combined fuel consumption of 9.4L/100km and CO2 emissions of 215g/km.
Following significant losses on electric vehicles (EVs), Ford CEO Jim Farley said the brand would look to leverage its ‘icons’ such as Mustang and turn to hybrid and extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) technology.
The Ford Bronco New Energy coming to Australia in 2027 is a prime example, leveraging the Bronco name and image with an EREV powertrain. The Ford F-150 Lightning EV, never officially sold here by Ford, was dropped in 2025 and will return with an EREV powertrain instead.
Mr Farley also promised more affordable models after the brand announced it would drop its cheapest SUV, the Escape, in the US last year. A Toyota RAV4 rival, the Escape was last offered in Australia in 2023.
The four-door Mustang, according toAutomotive News, will be priced below $US40,000 (A$56,624) in the US, where the current Mustang starts at $US32,995 (A$46,709), with V8 models from $US47,796 (A$67,661).
The 2026 Mustang starts at $72,990 before on-road costs in Australia, with the V8-powered Mustang GT from $84,917 before on-roads.