Driving with the woman in charge of America’s latest muscle car
New York (CNN) It seemed like a good idea at the time. Exciting, actually. I was able to take a ride in what will soon be America’s last gas-powered muscle car with the woman in charge of getting it into production and onto the street. But we were in New York City, it was four in the afternoon and I should have known better.
Laurie Transou recently took over as lead program engineer for the Ford Mustang. She is responsible for the final adjustments and production rollout of the new 2024 Mustang. As with all Mustangs over the past 59 years, this new one will be available with gasoline engines only. During what turned out to be a very long drive over a very short distance, I learned a little about her and about Ford̵[ads1]7;s decision to keep the Mustang going after nearly 60 years.
Laurie Transou, Ford Mustang Chief Program Engineer.
Transou and others at Ford will tell you it’s an electric Mustang, the Mustang Mach-E SUV. But we didn’t talk about that Mustang. Because of the way Ford is now organized, with separate operations departments responsible for gas-powered vehicles and electric ones—the Ford Blue and Ford Model E, respectively—Transou is not responsible for the Mustang Mach-E. That’s someone else’s job.
As we took off, there was a burst of speed and throaty V8 engine noise as we blasted down Manhattan’s 11th Avenue. Transou was behind the wheel because journalists are not allowed to drive the 2024 Mustang until a few things are finalized. Nevertheless, I had what, over the coming years, will become an increasingly rare experience.
Transou never said a bad word about the Mustang Mach-E, but as someone who learned to drive a manual transmission in a Mustang as a teenager, she clearly has a personal connection.
“We have our Mustang Mach-E. It goes incredibly fast in a straight line,” she said. “This Mustang can go fast, but it also has this amazing handling and steering and then the exhaust note. So each of them offers something a little different.”
In addition, the Mach-E’s zero fuel consumption helps keep Ford’s average fuel economy down, figures watch. That means Ford doesn’t have to worry as much about selling these gas-guzzling two-door Mustangs.
The car we sat in, the Mustang coupe, is already an oddity in the American car industry. First, it’s the only actual car Ford currently sells in the United States. Every other Ford product sold here is a truck or an SUV. Second, its main competitors, the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger, are both going out of production in the coming year. GM had already announced that it plans to sell something other than electric passenger cars by 2035, and besides, the Camaro hasn’t really been a match for the Mustang in the competition that counts – sales.
As for the Challenger, it’s been popular, but Stellantis, Dodge’s parent company, doesn’t yet have the electric vehicles to offset sales of the big V8s for fuel economy and emissions regulations. So Dodge plans to come out with an electric muscle car instead.
Given room to breathe, the Mustang will remain – like a kind of living fossil from a bygone age of motoring. That’s part of its ongoing charm, of course, and probably one of the reasons Ford decided not to even offer a hybrid version, at least for now.
Laurie Transou had this 1991 Mustang when she was younger.
“The choice for now was to lean into the ICE engine and everything that an ICE engine delivers,” Transou said, using an industry term for an internal combustion engine.
Customers who love the rumbling sound might like a hybrid at some point “should we decide to offer it,” she said.
Once we’d walked a few blocks on southbound 10th Avenue with little other traffic, it was time to head back north or, in Manhattan parlance, uptown. That’s when I realized our mistake. Turning north again, we were headed for the Lincoln Tunnel at rush hour.
The new Mustang Dark Horse’s 500-horsepower V8 engine is decent. No turbocharging or anything like that. And it’s still offered with a manual transmission of the type Transou used, worn out on the left leg of the clutch pedal, and rarely getting past first gear in traffic.
About 40% of V8 Mustang buyers get a manual transmission, she said, going for the truly classic driving experience.
“I think once you learn to drive a manual, it’s such an engaging, fun experience,” she said. “It’s just like you’re part of the station.”
Even from the passenger seat, this didn’t seem engaging and fun.
2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse.
The modern “high tech” option when it comes to the Mustang is the 315 horsepower “EcoBoost” turbocharged 4-cylinder engine which, Transou pointed out, makes a lot more power than the big V8 engine in the 1991 Mustang she had when she was young . The efficient 4-cylinder will now only be available with automatic transmission. I complained about it — I liked the 4-cylinder with a manual transmission, a combination you can still get in today’s Mustang — but I don’t think she’ll change her mind.
As you might guess, given that she grew up with a Mustang and is now in charge of the Mustang program, Transou has a connection to Ford.
“I’ve been in and around the company for over 30 years,” she said.
Her father worked at Ford. Her husband also works at Ford. So do her father-in-law, brother and brother-in-law. So have all four of her children.
Just before switching jobs to lead the Mustang rollout, she had broad oversight of Ford’s Icon Brands, which include the Mustang, Bronco and F-150. She was involved in the plans for new Mustang derivatives and special editions. No matter how long we sat in traffic, she wouldn’t divulge anything beyond the Dark Horse model we were already sitting in. But derivatives, like expensive Shelby models, are how Ford can make a lot of money even with all the expensive engineering developments of what is essentially a “niche” product.
For now, the future of the Ford Mustang is simply that it’s still here, it’s still rumbling, and she promised more news to come.
