December 11, 2006
Los Angeles, California – When Ford debuted its first purpose-built muscle car in more than 30 years the 2005 Mustang caught the eyes of two of the world's leading automotive stylists.
Italdesign's Fabrizio Giugiaro said: "When we saw the new Mustang, we knew two things: it was the best we'd seen since the original and we had to get our hands on one."'
So Giugaro approached Ford's chief creative officer J Mays early in 2005 with a proposal to do an Italian job on the new Mustang.
The result: Mustang by Giugiaro – a one-of-a-kind concept powered by Ford Racing technologies, styled by Giugaro and his father, design icon Giorgetto Giugiaro, and shown for the first time at the 2006 Los Angeles auto show.
Mays said: "It seemed only fitting; this design study reinforces the global appeal of Mustang, yet it's right at home in Los Angeles, America's most enthusiastic performance-car market."
The senior Giugiaro's portfolio includes concept and production designs for nearly every automaker in the world – from Fiat, Alfa Romeo and VW to Mazda, Lotus and Bugatti.
Fabrizio Giugiaro has helped deliver key global designs as well since joining family firm Italdesign in 1990 but American automotive icons have long captured his attention.
He led the design process on the Mustang by Giugiaro concept and delivered a complete exterior model from the family studio in Turin, Italy in only four months
The doors are hinged at the base of the upright A-pillar and open vertically at the touch of a button |
The Giugiaro Mustang looks more compact than the production car; it has less rear overhang and the lines have been tapered to the limit of of its mechanical outlines.
The car looks more like a fastback from the side with its longer bonnet and barely visible bootline – but it's wider than the standard version; the Giugiaros added 30mm in front, gradually expanding the width by 80mm toward the rear, which is typical of Italian design.
The interior features a dramatic instrument panel that sweeps across the width of the car, circular gauges that project from behind the steering wheel and mottled dark brown horsehide upholstery with mustang logos on the head restraints.
There's a single, curved glass panel replacing the windscreen, roof and rear window; it was made by Solutia of Detroit from a special type of crystal that filters out 100 percent of UVA rays.
The doors are hinged at the base of the upright A-pillar and open vertically at the touch of a button, and special taillights echo the three separate elements of the original 1964 Mustang - but arrow-shaped to link to the louver panels that replace the rear side windows.
There's even a definite curl sweeping into the crest of the concept's carbon-fibre bumpers, hinting at the tail fins that defined American cars of the 1950s.
Performance credentials
But this is no show mock-up – it's a driveable car with serious performance credentials, on a chassis built by Ford's racing department.
Ford Racing added an intercooled twin-screw supercharger to the all-aluminium 4.6-litre, three-valve V8 of the stock Mustang, with a larger 95mm mass air meter and a conical air filter, fuel injectors from the GT racing version, a crossover exhaust system and Ford Racing tailpipes (it would be libellous to call them silencers) and a new engine mapping that takes power output from the standard 225kW to an estimated 375kW with the boost running at 0.8 bar.
A Ford Racing aluminium radiator provides cooling capacity to match the extra 150kW.
The chassis has been set up using a tailored Ford Racing handling pack – available as a kit for the standard car – with stiffer dampers, lowered springs and anti-sway bars to sharpen the car's responses and lower its stance about 40mm compared to the standard car.
Fabrizio Giugiaro confirmed: "It drives as good as it looks – I took it to the limit on the open road near Turin and I can honestly say this car is worth the 30 000 hours of blood, sweat and tears we put into it."
