It’s nothing personal. Just stricter emissions laws. And that’s stopping the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 from going on sale in Europe.
While it was indeed a sheer joy to watch Vaughn Gittin Jr. pilot the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 up the hill at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, it was by no means a sign of good things to come.
Muscle Cars and Trucks spoke to Ford Performance Marketing Manager Jim Ownes recently regarding the carmaker’s plans for the Shelby GT500 and sadly Europe doesn’t feature in the launch market list.
The Shelby Mustang GT500 will be released in three major markets – North America, Mexico, and the Middle East. Europe will have to be content with the current range of Mustangs on offer – for now at least. The reason? The emissions laws in Europe are too strict for the supercharged 760 hp 5.2-liter V8 engine to meet.
It’s a bit of an unpleasant surprise that Ford isn’t thinking of ways by which the flagship Stang can be made available in European markets. The Mustang is the world’s best-selling sports coupe for the fourth consecutive year and Europe is among the key markets which have shown sales growth for the muscle car.
Giving the Old Continent a less powerful Euro-spec Bullitt and Mustang an exclusive Mustang55 special edition doesn’t necessarily make the crowd satisfied for long, Ford.
Source: Muscle Cars and Trucks