In recent months, Ford Authority spies have spotted Ford benchmarking a number of interesting vehicles near its corporate campus in Dearborn, Michigan, including the C8 Corvette Stingray and Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. This is a common practice in the automotive world, as automakers need to keep tabs on what the competition is doing, which helps each develop more competitive products. The latest in this long line of benchmark vehicles – which wears a telltale yellow sticker on the front window – is a Toyota Supra, one of the many rivals of FoMoCo’s legendary pony car, the Ford Mustang.
After 20 years of absence, the Toyota Supra returned for the 2020 model year in a familiar form – as a sporty, two-door coupe, this time equipped with a turbocharged 3.0L inline six-cylinder engine producing 382 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque, albeit only with an eight-speed automatic transmission and BMW underpinnings, for a starting MSRP of $51,090. A lesser 2.0L turbo-four variant is available for $43,090 that produces 255 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. This particular example was spotted entering the Dearborn proving grounds.
Either way, that’s a bit more expensive than the 2021 Ford Mustang, which starts out at $27,205 for the Ford 2.3L EcoBoost I-4 version that offers up 310 horsepower and 350 pound-feet of torque. Step up to the GT and its Ford 5.0L Coyote V8 – which makes 460 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque (a bit less for the 2022 model year, as Ford Authority exclusively reported earlier this month), and it still only starts out at a very reasonable $36,285 (all pricing is minus destination and delivery charges).
Sales Numbers - Mainstream Two-Door Sports Cars - Q3 2021 - USA
| MODEL | Q3 21 / Q3 20 | Q3 21 | Q3 20 | Q3 21 SHARE | Q3 20 SHARE | YTD 21 / YTD 20 | YTD 21 | YTD 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DODGE CHALLENGER | -14.32% | 13,994 | 16,332 | 43% | 36% | +15.10% | 44,142 | 38,350 |
| FORD MUSTANG | -34.19% | 9,115 | 13,851 | 28% | 31% | -13.80% | 41,065 | 47,637 |
| CHEVROLET CAMARO | -37.81% | 5,203 | 8,366 | 16% | 19% | -32.13% | 15,084 | 22,226 |
| MAZDA MX-5 MIATA | +25.69% | 2,931 | 2,332 | 9% | 5% | +44.44% | 9,608 | 6,652 |
| TOYOTA SUPRA | -15.86% | 1,277 | 1,518 | 4% | 3% | +53.37% | 5,825 | 3,798 |
| FIAT 124 SPIDER | -85.82% | 59 | 416 | 0% | 1% | -32.71% | 932 | 1,385 |
| TOYOTA 86 | -98.45% | 10 | 644 | 0% | 1% | -46.95% | 1,044 | 1,968 |
| NISSAN 370Z | -99.41% | 3 | 509 | 0% | 1% | -98.02% | 36 | 1,819 |
| SUBARU BRZ | -99.87% | 1 | 784 | 0% | 2% | -58.65% | 722 | 1,746 |
| TOTAL | -27.17% | 32,593 | 44,751 | -5.67% | 118,458 | 125,581 |
In terms of sales, the Musang ranked second only to the Dodge Challenger in the third quarter of 2021, while the Toyota Supra came in fifth. Volume-wise, the Mustang outsells the Supra handily, as Ford has moved 41,065 units year-to-date – in spite of numerous production issues – while Toyota has sold just 5,825 Supras.
Regardless, with the next-generation S650 Ford Mustang on the way for the 2023 model year – which could potentially introduce two hybrid powertrain options to the pony car – it’s certainly worth taking a closer look at all of the Mustang’s competition.
We’ll have more on the Mustang soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Mustang news and non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
I’d buy a EcoBoost Mustang over a Supra any day after a few tweaks and tunes it will out run the Toyota plus be more user friendly on a daily basis for less money
Your post wont hold weight until you show me an ecoboost Mustang beating 8.7 @153 followed by 8.8 @156. Or the many other Mk5 Supras already in the 9s. I personally wouldnt buy a Supra but your post needs some research. The BMW B58 engine in them handles massive power with stock internals.
The Ford EcoBoost 4 has ran 9’s while the so call Supra has a BMW motor. I wouldn’t spend the money to make a Toyota run 8’s it’s Foolish money wasted haha
Guess ford is finally trying to figure out how to build a real car.
lol they do, its called the mustang gt.
🗑 🚮
They shouldn’t be afraid of a BMW
Of course not ford can’t compete with bmw lol. I mean you are talking cheap crappy ford cars compared to gm goofy of you to even say that.
I mean you are talking cheap crappy ford cars compared to bmw goofy of you to even say that.
i still fail to understand why they are comparing muscle cars to sports cars. maybe they are looking to take over more markets? hopefully it doesn’t end up like the Camaro
What FORD should have been working on is a 5.8 FPC motor for a BOSS 351 with 725hp N/A!!