By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

You have to wonder who at Ford was able to convince the folks at Edmunds that the 2015 Mustang will be 15 inches shorter, 6.5 inches narrower and 400 pounds lighter. They should get a medal. Even a quick glance at spy photos of the car shows a vehicle that is nearly as long and just as wide as the current model.

As for the weight reduction, unless the folks in Dearborn are currently at work on two aluminum-intensive programs, the next Mustang’s most aluminum-intensive piece will be its independent rear suspension.

That other aluminum-intensive vehicle is the 2015 F-150, the powerhouse behind Ford’s profits. It’s as important to the image of the company as the Mustang, but much more imperative to get just right. Say “aluminum” to most people and they think of the can their favorite beverage comes in. Say “aluminum-intensive vehicle” and — except for folks familiar with Audi’s aluminum space frame cars and the Tesla Model S — they see a crushed beer can on four wheels.

Building the best selling pickup out of the stuff is fraught with potential danger, but getting ahead of federal fuel economy standards demands significant weight reduction, especially if you want to continue to sell lots of V8 Mustangs.

The betting line in Detroit says the F-150 will have an all-aluminum body atop a lighter, stronger steel frame. This would excise a good 750 pounds according to these folks, increase the F-150’s towing capacity and add 1-2 mpg to its EPA rating. However, a change this radical would greatly increase the cost to build the truck, and hike its price to the point of being non-competitive. Further, it would require buying the bulk of virgin aluminum sheet capacity to stamp out the parts for hundreds of thousands of pickups.

Ford Atlas Concept

Better to start with a less ambitious plan that eases buyers into the idea of aluminum trucks, gives Ford time to train its dealer network on proper repair procedures, and builds up a stream of automotive-grade sheet aluminum for recycling as the trucks are crashed or scrapped.

Where does that leave the 2015 F-150? Reliable reports say the new truck will have use aluminum outer panels on the bed, doors and hood. The inner structure will remain steel, with a greater percentage of high-strength and ultra-high-strength grades used beneath the surface. It won’t be ultra-light, but it will give Ford the chance to prime the system as more aluminum makes its way into future cars and trucks.

Which brings us back to the 2015 Mustang.

2011 Ford Evos Concept

The numbers quoted by Edmunds sound suspiciously like the car Ford was rumored to be building off its global rear-drive platform before Lincoln opted for an “Audi-style” (or, more accurately, Acura) front- and all-wheel drive lineup that puts Ford mechanicals in much nicer wrappers. (We speculated on this car in our 2011 coverage of the Frankfurt Motor Show.) Then Australia’s rear-drive Falcon was put on the chopping block, making a new platform just for the Mustang prohibitively expensive. That left the engineers just one option: modifying the all-steel S197 platform on which the current Mustang sits.

Even though the car has only recently been photographed with its nose uncovered, it’s pretty apparent that the cowl height of the 2015 Mustang is lower than the current car’s. More importantly, when seen on the track with a current Mustang, the rear deck is higher, the rear fascia is more rounded and looks smaller, and the roofline appears less rounded. (There’s a lot of camouflage on the rear part of the roof, suggesting big changes in this area.) I’m guessing the changes in the roof are similar to the differences between VW’s current Beetle and the New Beetle.

The 900-pound gorilla in the room is how long the Mustang can survive on its current platform. Fuel economy standards are tightening. The Camaro will be shifted to the much smaller and lighter Cadillac ATS platform. Chrysler is readying a rear-drive Barracuda, if rumors are to be believed, to replace the aging — and large — Challenger.

This leaves Ford with only two choices. It can add more aluminum to reduce the weight of the car and effectively create a new platform over time while keeping the size and shape the same. Or it can build a new lightweight rear-drive platform that can be adapted to support a Lincoln should that brand decide it needs a luxury rear-drive two-door and sedan. Even though the engineers are working hard to get the 50th anniversary Mustang ready, the really tough decisions still lie ahead.

The Virtual Driver