I think folks are holding on to the "it's the only true pony car left" death grip a little too tight. Both Chevy and Dodge may be quiet in the performance market for a year or two, but when they both get up to the plate again, they are going to knock the cover off the ball. The 650 has a two -- maybe three -- year leg life and I'd say that's about it. Chevy and Dodge bringing any sort of performance EV to the market within 2 years is going trash an ICE Mustang both in performance and sales.
Ford didn't take the same strategy as GM. The 6th gen Camaro was an entirely new car: new chassis, new gen engine, new everything. Yes, it looked very similar to the 5th gen Camaros, which is what I think you're homing in on; however, it was entirely updated - nothing was shared between the 5th and 6th generations (except for the rear bumper SS badge I think I once read). And its looks probably isn't what hurt it in the sales department (hint: somewhat compromised visibility and in some opinions to a lesser degree, ergonomics). The S650 is just a refreshed S550 with new sheetmetal and dashboard. The underpinnings are all the same minus the dual TB intake on the GT engine and some updates to the Ecoboost engine. This "new generation" is more akin to a major refresh.
I rank dash and sheetmetal changes as merely a 'modest' refresh. Or alternatively the pejorative "bold new graphics" as popularized by the 2-wheel press. The dual-intake on the 5.0 hardly rises to "interesting" nor "significant" while the extra HP is a total snooze/nothing-burger.
Offering a physical set of dash instruments and gauge clusters as an alternative to an interior that's been developed entirely around a touch interface would be nightmarishly expensive, I would imagine. Have you ever seen someone else do that in the industry? That probably gives you a clear answer.
The moment the Charger/Challenger come out as EVs, they'll be competitors by name only. A Kia EV6 GT will be a closer competitor in size, concept, and experience. I'm slightly confused; don't you, as an enthusiast, want to keep having good ICE options? The idea of losing the V8 and stick to an EV sounds dreadful to me, especially with the terrible charging network infrastructure we have in the US.
They're currently the only ones willing to take the risk of developing, testing, certifying, and marketing another ICE platform in a climate that's all but up in the air.
Any additional powertrain options would introduce variants that would have to be tested, certified, and made production-feasible. They would have to factor in cost-complexity, sales dilution, and ultimately profitability, the former of which would be incomprehensible for us to understand. On top of that, Ford's crate engine warranties are good for 2/24k versus the 5/60k on their factory powertrains.
The longer Chevy and Dodge choose to wait, the less likely a purpose-built ICE platform will come from them. If anything, they'll be hybrids if they come to market in the next few years simply because looming pure-ICE bans aren't that far off in California and the EU. It will literally be illegal to sell an ICE-only car in those markets in a little over 10 years unless something changes, and you know that a business won't waste money developing something they cannot sell.
Are we forgetting that this is totally normal for Ford
The 6th gen Camaro was identical to the 5th gen visually from most angles. It was virtually impossible to tell the cars apart from the rear and side. The s650 might have the overall profile similar to the s550. But it's details make it very easy to tell the cars apart imo.
I have ZERO desire for an EV. I don't have one friend (car guy or not) who wants one either...they have way too many downsides.
I probably will trade my S550 for a DH just waiting on availability in Europe and how the EU spec will look like.
Backlash? Everything I've read shows massive interest and support of it.
