mobile-menu-icon
Ford Authority

Boss Trademark Filing Suggests Ford Mustang Model Revival Coming

Ford Motor Company has filed to trademark “Boss” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Ford Authority has learned.

Filed on January 15th, 2025, under serial number 98963540, this application contains the goods and services description of “Motor vehicles, namely, gasoline and electric passenger automobiles, sports cars, pick-up trucks, sport utility vehicles and their structural parts.”

A Ford trademark filing for Boss.

The Ford Authority Take

Boss is a rather well-known name among Ford Mustang fans, given the fact that it was first used on the now-iconic Boss 302 to meet homologation requirements to compete in Trans Am racing, leading to a production version offered to customers in 1969 and 1970. The Boss 429 followed as an even more powerful variant also designed to serve as a homologated model for NASCAR racing, but after 1970, both Boss Mustangs disappeared for a pretty long time – in fact, the Boss 302 didn’t return until 2012, when it once again graced the flanks of a track-focused pony car.

Following that limited run, the Boss Mustang has been on ice ever since, but this new trademark filing seems to indicate that The Blue Oval may in fact be bringing it back in the near future. Such a move would make sense for a number of reasons – for starters, Ford has done the same thing with other special Mustang variants like the Shelby GT350, GT500, and Mach 1 in the past, and we’re certainly due for a new Boss.

Secondly, as Ford Authority exclusively reported in May 2024, the S650 generation Mustang may not utilize the Shelby name on any variant, though no final decision had been made at the time of that report. This stems from the fact that Blue Oval executives are fans of using names conceived by Ford, rather than those licensed from third parties like Shelby. The Raptor and Dark Horse are good examples of this, and both have thus far experienced a healthy amount of success. If a new Boss Ford Mustang is indeed in the works, it would also be the perfect time to use it to pay homage to Howard Freers – a man that played an integral role in developing the original Boss 302 – but passed away last year at the age of 97.

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.

Subscribe to Ford Authority

For around-the-clock Ford news coverage

We'll send you one email per day with the latest Ford updates. It's totally free.

Comments

  1. Of course. That’s all Ford knows how to do anymore. Endless variations of an existing model.

    Reply
    1. Pretty much every company does that. They all tend to come out with completely new models only about once every few years especially in this age of conflicting mandates & restrictions from government. Mustang is the only true car Ford has for the U.S. Market anymore and it is still popular so why not offer several variants of it. What would you do?

      Reply
      1. Exactly! Ford might as well make the most of its Mustang IP, especially given Ford’s recent recall woes and the unlikely chance anybody driving Asian or European is super unlikely to jump ship to a Ford branded hatch or sedan making the development of a new model essentially a money losing proposition (Ford would have to relearn what it lost and would have to make a segment busting car like the original Ford Taurus and make all the right moves for years to come in order to gain the sort of trust that would pull somebody from Toyota, Honda, or the South Korean brands, plus it would have be priced competitively with the South Korean brands and eventually the Chinese brands that will start filtering in.

        Reply
  2. It’s interesting to observe Ford’s apparent move away from the “outside” naming protocols like Shelby and moving back toward Ford developed branding like BOSS and the newer Darkhorse. Even the new GTD instead of using say the GT 500R or some variant. Maybe Ford feels that it now, after all these years can come out of the shadows of others.

    Reply
    1. The GT500 never had a competition history and the GTD was named in honor of the GT3 Mustang racing in the IMSA GT Daytona class.

      Reply
  3. I like “BOSS” but I would really like a 2025 BULLITT Mustang with an A-10 option!

    Reply
  4. Have a black 2013 Boss 302 Laguna Seca .
    A full performance car, with all the good stuff from the factory!
    Nothing needed to be change or added, just put it in track mode and drive it!
    If they do the same with an updated Boss, they will sell every one.
    Hope they would install the split exhaust again !

    Reply
  5. i wish they make Boss, Mach 1 etc a option all though the year…like it was in the 69 and 70…not just a few limited runs.

    Reply
    1. 69/70 Shelby full swath front end like was on my GT500 would be really something. The version shown at the top of this article is about as close a remake as I’ve seen, but not quite there.

      Reply
  6. I always thought the 13 12 boss had an ugly paint scheme.

    Reply
  7. You are forgetting the BOSS 351 of 1971.

    Reply
    1. Exactly. Probably the best of all the Boss Mustangs’ until the 2012 edition came around.

      Reply
    2. The best Boss!

      Reply
  8. Is it a patent inteference with German perfume maker? Whenever I hear “boss” ; I immediately relate it to the legendary mustang boss which I own as a die-cast model in yellow. I consider it a matter of brand awareness rather than a copyright issue. Mustangs themselves in my opinion; most of them are consideredy myself as masterpieces of American automotive industry when it comes to muscle cars.

    Reply

Leave a comment

Cancel