First Look: S650 Mustang Prototype Spied With Production Body! 📸

[amk91]

Well, I was right. I told you all January, because my Ford contact had said so.

He hinted to me that it would directly line up with spy photo debuts of these vehicles, like an anniversary.

JANUARY 14, 2020

JANUARY 11, 2021

JANUARY 14, 2022

Haha, finally. Cannot believe I got insight like that and it totally panned out as stated. There was no way with the holiday winding down, we would've seen them last month.

Topnotch was right about December being a "maybe" when S650 field runs began to ramp up significantly, but I knew it was not idealized to show it before January. This happened exactly the same for the Bronco. Running around much more in December, but withheld until a given date.

It's all carefully manipulated. BTW, please stop calling this a mule. It is NOT a MULE at this stage. The terminology prototype and mule are not interchangeable at this level. Only applies to S550 body S650s.

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[Sergeant Gearhead]

YES!!!!! Finally we're getting our first glimpse of the S650! I don't want to jinx it or anything, but Im seeing a beam in the middle of the front end, so maybe Ford decided against the big grill from the sculpture from a year or so ago. Think maybe we'll see a reveal this year?

 

[thePill]

It will look very similar to the old CAD that leaked in 2014. Dropping the front bummer for a more aggressive hood. The V8 engine’s will be almost shrink-wrapped by the hood.
Go look for the old CAD that everyone thought was initially it.

 

[Ace]

I honestly think Ford has added a lot of fake padding on the front to throw people off. The hood obviously won't have an A shape, that wouldn't match any pedestrian safety law. The padding that goes along the top of the headlights seems strange too, more like it wants to hide other lines on purpose? But if the real lights are in line with the hood it would look amazing and add some Mustang5 elements. The whole grille areas are heavily thrown off by all the lines the wind is adding to the cover.

When trying to look "under the cover" and find out which lines are real, I think we can see a l ot of Mach-E and Next Fusion elements.

Here's how I would guess the lines of the car would actually look like:

You can see the tribar LEDs shine through here on the passenger side headlight:

 

[hellohello123]

I have the imagination of a burritto
But to me that almost looks like s550 with a mach-e type bigger hole front grille.
The rear tail lights look more LEDised and different, the front headlights look thinner like how many car designs are going

Hopefully I'm wrong but given some of the concept pics, completely underwhelming

 

[DeluxeStang]

Underwhelming to be honest. Based on what was suggest I was expecting more changes but this looks a lot similar to S550 as is.

Bro, the entire car is covered in thick camo. Maybe reserving judgement for now would be the best approach.

 

[hellohello123]

I will hazard a guess that the rear styling may be taken from the Aston Martin... time will tell.

The rear is looking a Bit short and spouty, like a mx5 or s2000

 

[because_murica]

The rear is looking a Bit short and spouty, like a mx5 or s2000

That's the heavy camo distorting the lines.

 

[hellohello123]

That's the heavy camo distorting the lines.

I hope you're right!
being a bit short doesn't offend me though

Overall given by the angles of the padding it just looks like a refresh to me....

 

[amk91]

Hey, that looks like the first S650 mule finally. Interesting headlight design. Definitely looks more like a another refresh.

At this point it's the production vehicle, so not much of a mule at this stage. For the past 2 years, all we've seen are S650 mules. Now it's the real thing.

This is definitely more than the 1999 and 2010 were, although one of course shouldn't expect a whole new design, since they are essentially reusing the S550 basis. It's a heavy tophat redesign, with heavily revised underpinnings.

Does the roof look lower to anyone else? Might just be my impression. At least they haven't gone full mail slot like the Camaro.

Confirmation I got and so did Twin Turbo (?), is that is indeed lower and a bit wider.

Honestly, other than headlights, looks like a S550 with a sheepdog body kit to me.

Standard procedure.

In all seriousness though I'm liking the looks of this. However, I'll also say that i feel we're also being misled on a bunch of the key panels because I seriously doubt there's that inverted V for the hood like we're seeing on this. Keep in mind they throw fake panels on things to throw us off y'all. Also #NotTheRealHeadlights #NotTheRealTaillights

Yes and no. The camouflaging and sheathing process in 2013 for the 2015 S550, was detailed in a now deleted development documentary. For all and intents purposes, this is entirely the final design, approved in 2020 for the S650.

With the S550, to hide the new 3 dimensional taillights, placeholders were definitely used to mask some details, until reveal. There were some late 2013 spy shots or BTS footage, which highlighted the exposed non-3D red covers for the taillights.

I don't really see that here, not to mention the headlights seem production. As they are definitely not halogen, like most placeholders. Tail lights do not seem fake either, but simply well covered up. The Bronco didn't use dummy lights nor did the Ranger and Mach E. This is it.

Not the real headlights

That's not necessarily known to be a fact. I believe they are real, as this is beyond VP1 stage. Nothing supports this.

#NotTheRealHeadlights. Keep that in mind that these are probably just placeholders for what the real ones would be. Remember people have been saying it's still a tribar design in the lamps just more vertical could very well be wrong but.. Judging by the way mules/prototype/spy models have gone in the past these are most likely just placeholders.

That isn't something to go off of, because the level of changes between S197 to S550 and S550 to S650 is apples to oranges, not to mention Ford protocol is way different since the days under Alan Mulally, J Mays, and Raj Nair.

Every verification prototype vehicle spied like this the past 3 years, has been wearing production lighting at this stage. Not placeholders. Every first spy shot I have, for every 2020-22MY Ford redesign/product, proves this.

Ford has a pretty good history of using production headlights in their mules, albeit under heavy camo. That's what I think we're seeing here. What we can see of the overall shape of the headlight isn't going to change.

What may change is the internals of the headlights, but this mule seems to have high intensity laser lights under tape rather than just placeholders.

These are strictly prototypes, because mules can be so slapped together and tack anything on. Ford seems to now be preventing vehicles from testing publicly so early, that they no longer need placeholders and suppliers can design and install production lighting units for testing.

If we saw these cars last summer or 1 year ago, you'd definitely see them wearing placeholders.

Yeah I meant mostly the internals in my opinion aren't finalized. They don't resemble anything we've heard from the people who say they've seen it... I mean again i could be wrong but...

It can go either way, but it's too covered for anyone to presume these are just placeholders. Ford never uses HID placeholders, they are almost always halogen.

I read the article that indicated S650 will be released early next year (2023) as MY 2024. Does that mean there will be a shorten 2023 model year for the S550? I know the chip shortage and pandemic have led to delays, but an introduction of the S650 next year as a 2023 MY would make more sense. Anyway, article and pictures are good news.

Next-Gen Ford Mustang S650: Here’s Your First Look (msn.com)

I am not certain of a 2024 model year introduction yet, as this could easily still be a 2023 model on April 17, 2023. Remember that the 1965 car went into production March 9th and was on sale by April 17th.

S550 could end production in December 2022 and ramp up in March 2023, IF that date is 100% accurate. 2022s hit dealers likely next month and began production January 3. A March 6, 2023 Job 1 date, could easily arrive by the end of April 2023.

Looks about as "all new" as the 2010.

I think we have discussed for a very long time, it was not going to be revolutionary. This is more than the 2010, but nowhere near the level of change for 2015.

I knew it... the low life’s from "Autoblog" stole your pics and just cut them so the "Mustang7G" isn't visible any more. Besides, they added their own watermark... Won't post the link to generate more "clicks" for them but "BYRON HURD" is the name of the "author"... Maybe someone with twitter can ask him why he stole the pics...
It's just disgusting!

Anyhow, thanks again for the first pics @Jarstang =)

Stupid a** Autoblog is a crap website, full of original content and dumb reporting gaffes, which people take hook, line, and sinker as credible. Byron Hurd is a lame ****, who couldn't write for crap on Left Lane News, which thankfully went defunct in 2020. Autoblog just hires any clown.

Funny enough though, they tipped me off. I caught a glimpse of a photo with Ford pattern camouflage and immediately knew it was something big. Low and behold, this car!

you can just as easily say they ripped off the Z400.

What is a Z400? Ford designed this car 2 years ago anyway for a May 2022 Job 1 date, so don't know about that one bit. If it wasn't in existence in 2019, Ford didn't copy it.

Idk about everyone else, but that ugly catfish face definitely grew on me. When I had a 2016 and the first 2018s came out, I was disgusted and glad mine looked the way it did. But now the 2018+ looks alot more aggressive, especially in person.

It only looks good as the Mach 1 or GT in dark colors only. That I am sure hurt sales, despite the technical improvements.

 

[DeluxeStang]

YES!!!!! Finally we're getting our first glimpse of the S650! I don't want to jinx it or anything, but Im seeing a beam in the middle of the front end, so maybe Ford decided against the big grill from the sculpture from a year or so ago. Think maybe we'll see a reveal this year?

Based on what Jem said previously, it sounds like the front end of the s650 will be a mesh of the current mach-1 lower bumper, the mach-e gt grille, and some new elements. So the massive grille on the sculpture won't make an appearance it seems. He said the rest of the sculpture isn't exactly like the s650, but it provides some hints, the rear end of the sculpture apparently shares quite a bit with the s650.

 

[DeluxeStang]

I hope you're right!
being a bit short doesn't offend me though

Overall given by the angles of the padding it just looks like a refresh to me....

All new body panels, not a refresh. A refresh would be new front and rear fascias, and maybe a new hood. All the panels on this look new from what little we can see.

 

[amk91]

I honestly think Ford has added a lot of fake padding on the front to throw people off. The hood obviously won't have an A shape, that wouldn't match any pedestrian safety law. The padding that goes along the top of the headlights seems strange too, more like it wants to hide other lines on purpose? But if the real lights are in line with the hood it would look amazing and add some Mustang5 elements. The whole grille areas are heavily thrown off by all the lines the wind is adding to the cover.

When trying to look "under the cover" and find out which lines are real, I think we can see a l ot of Mach-E and Next Fusion elements.

Here's how I would guess the lines of the car would actually look like:

You can see the tribar LEDs shine through here on the passenger side headlight:

Yes, I can see them. Thank you so much for pointing that out. Don't know why anyone would assume anything that covered up, automatically has placeholders. They are decked out, but just hidden well. You can see the 3 segments.

 

[DeluxeStang]

While it's cool to see this running around obviously, I find it kinda absurd that some people are complaining about a design that's literally hidden. Every single panel has think camo on it. Wait for the camo to slip off before making judgements.

 

[hellohello123]

All new body panels, not a refresh. A refresh would be new front and rear fascias, and maybe a new hood. All the panels on this look new from what little we can see.

I m referring to design.. I'm really hoping it's my crappy imagination but it really looks like very very simialr
I'm really hoping it's going shock me in good way

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