The Detroit Auto Show is kicking off this week, and Ford is trying to make the most of it. Last night, it showed off the Bronco RTR, and tomorrow, it’s preparing to release a new Mustang Dark Horse variant that it describes as the most “advanced, powerful, and track-capable” version yet.
The truth is, The Autopian has known about this new Mustang for about a day now, since we managed to get our hands on the embargoed material ahead of the car’s official announcement. The car isn’t supposed to be revealed until tomorrow morning, but Red Bull, with the help of four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen, just revealed the whole car on its YouTube channel nearly 24 hours before the embargo time.
While I can’t tell you all the juicy details just yet, there’s a whole lot of info that can be gleaned from the video, which shows Verstappen piloting the bright orange Mustang around a race track. Let’s get into it.
The Name Seems To Give Things Away
The video, released this morning, has Verstappen and Red Bull’s newest F1 driver, Arvid Lindblad, driving a century’s worth of Ford racing cars on a small track through a series of challenges. About halfway through, Ford puts Max in an orange Mustang it labels as the “2026 Mustang Dark Horse SC.”
The video’s host, car YouTuber Jeremiah Burton, doesn’t spill any specs or performance details on the car, saying only that it’s “the most advanced, powerful, and track-capable Dark Horse ever.” In the world of cars, “SC,” can mean a few things. Sport Competition? Sport Coupe, maybe. Or, if you’re a Porsche person, Super Carrera may be the first phrase that comes to mind.
The most obvious answer, going by the whine coming from the engine in the video above, is that SC, in this case, stands for Super Charger. Red Bull doesn’t make it clear in the video whether this supercharged V8 under the hood is an enhancement of the 5.0-liter Coyote engine found in the normal Dark Horse, or something totally different. Either way, the Dark Horse SC is shaping up to be a Shelby GT500 replacement, and will likely sit between the standard Dark Horse and the top-level Mustang GTD.
What About The Rest Of The Car?
Aside from the bright orange paint, there are a few obvious changes to the Dark Horse body in the step to SC trim. There’s a big, fixed rear wing bolted to the decklid out back, along with a new integrated, body-color ducktail spoiler underneath. Note also the square-shaped quad exhaust tips. Up front, there’s a new fascia with more black plastic, and a raised hood with quick-latching hood pins, similar to those found on the last GT500.
The brakes look to be roughly the same size, though the multi-spoke, gunmetal-painted wheels are new. They’re wrapped in what appear to be Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires, which are similar in grip level to the Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tires you get in the optional Handling Package in the normal Dark Horse.
While the cameras give us a good look at the interior, it’s mostly covered in black cloth, so there’s not much to see. The Dark Horse SC used by Verstappen has a roll cage and a proper racing bucket installed, though it’s unlikely the production car will get either of those features.
With the embargo set to drop tomorrow morning, Ford-heads won’t have to wait long to find out all of the details.
Top image: Red Bull/YouTube
Stupid video. He talks about entering a right turn as it’s turning left. I didn’t bother to watch the rest.
And it’s also a car in which I have no interest.
It didn’t look good on the Elantra N, it doesn’t look good on any Subaru. Why do automakers continue to try to make matte black plastic look sporty? It just looks cheap.
The back end is awful. Way too busy.
Going for the 1980s base model look with all that unpainted black plastic on the front.
I’m sure the performance is great but it looks like a modern Subaru, instead of just looking like a Camaro.
Funny you say that since I was thinking whatever new Subaru CUV I saw the other day looked like an Explorer.
That’s what I think everytime I see all black wheels…
Also dislike the matte finish black cars…looks like sprayed in primer, can’t afford a paint job yet.
-old genx’er
Make one car, make all kinds of special performance editions of it and jack up the prices, print money. Well done Ford.
Based on the looks, it doesn’t excite me.
And I’m sure it will be yet another fast version of the Mustang.
And that doesn’t excite me either.
You know what Ford could do to excite me?
Bring back the Ford Focus 4 door hatchback and have it in three versions… an ST version with the manual transmission with the turbo 4 cylinder, a hybrid using the same hybrid system used in the Escape and a plug-in hybrid using the same plug-in hybrid also used in the Escape.
Ford does not need yet another fast version of the Mustang.
They need a sensible and practical CAR option for those of us who just need a practical and lower cost daily driver that has ‘good enough’ performance.
Ford is going to build what sells and the market wants CUVs and trucks. After the way the last Focus/Fiesta sold in America went I doubt we’ll ever see those names again.
And you know what Ford’s trucks and CUVs in North America didn’t have?
The PowerShit transmission.
I blame the issues with the PowerShit transmission for that, NOT because people don’t want actual cars.
Case in point, Honda and Toyota continue to sell the Civic, Accord, Prius, Corolla and Camry.
I’m not saying there’s not a market, God knows I can’t stand SUVs that are overweight hatchbacks lifted 3 inches and covered in plastic but most of the America market at least will pick a compact crossover over a small sedan or hatch. The Rav4 sells more than double the Corolla these days last time I checked even for the 5-10k price increase so it’s not exactly surprising manufacturers discontinue them.
Jack up all but the ST model a quarter inch and give them unpainted gray flares and cladding and it’ll sell like hot donuts. It doesn’t have to be off-road capable, it just has to look like adventurousness.
Someone at Red Bull didn’t get the memo on release date…
It gives you wings, not reading comprehension.
Ford has literally become a one trick pony.
FFS fire that worthless CEO and get someone in there who has a clue.
One trick pony? Did you forget about the Bronco, Maverick, Mach-E, and F-Series? I’d say those are pretty good tricks too!
Their entire business model is trucks, trucks and more trucks (except for the Mustang). How quickly we forget how badly Detroit was devastated in the 2008 market crash when all the US car makers put all their eggs in one basket.
I was hoping this sports car announcement was going to be anything BUT another goddamn Mustang.
Can we change up the game for once and put a turbo on the Coyote instead of a SC? Probably would make too much sense for Ford.
I’m assuming you mean two turbos, but…why? It’s not like GM and Stellantis haven’t been supercharger lovers either.
Or we can have one turbo that only draw exhaust gases from one cylinder bank to provide better low end torque and a weaksauce improvement to peak HP.
Like what Saab did with the B308E engine
Because a supercharger is easier and cheaper to incorporate into the engine. No exhaust manifolds, piping, intercooler, etc. Plop it onto the engine and dial in the ECU. And then sell it to your dealers to install on other platforms.
Which honestly confused me when the article popped up. Richard Hammond put a Ford approved supercharger and big wing on his Dark Horse a few weeks ago. But apparently this is different.
When Chevy unveiled the 2019 Camaro SS facelift with the blacked-out “big mouth” grille like this one, loud voices on the muscle car internet got so collectively incensed that the 2020 model ended up with an emergency facelift to color in the center bar.
Fast forward 7 years, and now everyone’s doing it. Audi with their RS models, Hyundai’s N models, and now the Mustang itself grows a full beard.
Do we owe the 2019 Camaro an apology? Or is there extra blame due for it being the first on this trend?
It is fucking terrible, and never apologize for making fun of the 2019 Camaro SS’s Silverado grille
Extra blame. This trend blows chunks and the 2019 Camaro is an abomination in the eyes of god. So is the pre refresh Elantra N.
It wasn’t the black grille that had people upset as much as it was the horrendous badge placement (which they also fixed with the 2020 facelift)
Interesting. I have no idea what badge placement you’re talking about, but I (and I’d say a lot of other commenters) still have a visceral hatred of the gaping maw on that hideous car. Maybe I suppressed the memory of the badge though? 😉
They put the badge down in the bisecting piece of black plastic instead of in the upper grille like it should be. It moved back to the grille in 2020.
Came here to say the same thing.
What’s funny is the ZL1 (which this would compete with, if they were still around) never got the facelift.
I hope one of them u toobers puts this on a track with the ZL1 1LE.
I have wondered how much longer they’d pay to license the Shelby name.
Yeah did I miss a memo? No more Shelby Fords?
There’s now a 100% tariff on licensed names which originated in Commiefornia. They tried Trumpstang, but that sounds like something you have to immediately dump into the washing machine.
Cool, a $100,000 rental car
Maybe they should have just called it the Mustang Hertz Donut.
We jest, but Ford does make Hertz edition mustangs and they’re quite sought after on the secondhand market. But regardless the Mustang just can’t shake that rental fleet vibe for me. The interior is ass and there are just so many of them.
I can get behind buying the sketchiest/lowest spec GT possible in the low 40s. For that price it’s a ridiculous amount of performance, V8 go brr, and if you want it to go around corners or make MO POWA there’s a strong aftermarket. Also available in stick, although people really hate the Getrag 6 speed and in typical Ford tradition it’s overstressed from the factory so they can charge you $5,000 for a replacement when it kerplodes 20 minutes after the warranty is up.
But the $60,000+ “special” ones? I really, genuinely do not see the point. I’d get an M2 over a Dark Horse 10/10 times and since this is probably going to be a 6 figure car I think you’d have to be out of your mind to choose it over a Corvette Z06/E Ray (whichever floats your boat), 718 GTS, and myriad others…but there are some people that truly love Mustangs and have piles of money (aka Boomers) so they’ll still sell.
When I went to Vegas I rented one of the Shelby GT500-H for a couple of days to bomb around the desert–it was surprisingly affordable and reasonably fun to drive for a car with stupid HP. That said I don’t ever need to go to Vegas or drive another tarted up Mustang again.
Oh if they let me rent a Shelby GT500 I would be going directly to the nearest track or drag strip and just flogging the absolute piss out of it
they keep making it more truck-like. First the interior, now the exterior.
It’s all Ford knows how to do anymore.
Well, that and stifle First Amendment speech…
I do like how the different-colored plastic/metal juxtaposition breaks things up visually though, makes the design sharper. Wish this were more common on regular offerings.