The other day we reported on a rumor from Ford tuner Steeda, which said that the 2015 Ford Mustang would actually be gaining a few hundred pounds over the last generation, contrary to Ford's pronouncement of a weight loss. Now it turns out that rumor might have been full of crap.
On Saturday, Steeda put up a blog post, originally spotted by Mustang6G, heralding their development work on performance parts for the new Mustang, and implying that they actually had one of the new models in their possession. The post has since been changed, deleting this accompanying photo showing a team actually working on an example of the new Mustang:
It's unclear whether or not the post has been altered otherwise.
The post went on to definitively state that the Mustang had actually gained a whole bunch of weight, contrary to Ford's predictions, emphasis mine:
Our work is cut out for us because unbeknown to most Mustang aficionados (and not "officially" confirmed by Ford for obvious reasons), the 2015 Mustang ended up gaining 200-300 pounds in this remake – and with weight being the "enemy of performance", there are plenty of challenges needed to ensure that the 2015 iteration of America's favorite Pony Car isn't left at the starting line spinning its wheels against the competition.
That's a huge bombshell, because an extra 200-300 pounds can have a significant detrimental effect on performance, and would take the huge selling point that the Mustang is leaner than its Camaro and Challenger counterparts away.
But now that huge bombshell of a statement of fact looks like it could've just been based on a big stinking guess, instead. A user on the Mustang6G forums going by the handle of "Seth@Steeda" said that they hadn't actually, ya know, based that weight figure on anything real, but more just about what they think maybe, kinda, sorta, would happen:
In case that's a little hard to read, I've quoted it below:
Based on our experience working with IRS mustangs in the past we estimated what the weight addition will be. In addition current industry trends with new cars show additional weight being added for various new safety and comfort features.
So no, the Mustang did not definitely gain a whole fat guy in weight. Steeda just guessed that, and made that potentially damaging guess public, because why not. Nevermind that many vehicles are actually getting lighter than their predecessors, due in part to more advanced materials and manufacturing techniques.
(And those lighter vehicles including the F-150, which is some 700 pounds lighter than its predecessor, which is made by (*AHEM*) Ford. A company Steeda is very familiar with. So I'm not sure they should just be assuming that what goes in the past goes for the future as well.)
I called up Steeda to confirm their original claim, and to confirm whether or not "Seth@Steeda" actually worked for the company.
I'm still waiting on an official response.
As for the 2015 Mustang's actual weight, we still don't know. Ford hasn't released it, as part of their marketing strategy to slowly, painfully drip out information in an effort to lengthen the news cycle.
Nevertheless, I reached out to Ford to see if they could clear this mess up, and definitively say on which side of the coin the new Mustang would come down on.
They haven't responded yet, either.