Ford CEO Jim Farley said the automaker will keep making the iconic rear-wheel-drive Mustang sports car with a manual gearbox for as long as possible.
Speaking to Australian media including CarExpert at the 2026 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne, the Ford CEO said: “Out of our cold, dead hands will we not have a manual Mustang.”
“The Mustang we’ve known for 60 years will continue. We’ll try and keep it alive as long as possible.”
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Mr Farley is a known enthusiast and racer who has also previously declared his dislike for “all those generic, two-row crossovers that dominate our industry”, subsequently ending US production of the Ford Escape – a rival to the Toyota RAV4 – in December 2025.
In Melbourne, he also repeated his pledge the automaker will not make any boring cars.
“I really believe Ford best serves the working people and enthusiast drivers,” he said. “And that’s increasingly off-road as well as on-road, and I like to say we don’t have any boring cars at Ford.”
The current Mustang GT Fastback (coupe), which runs a 5.0-litre V8 petrol engine, is available with a six-speed manual gearbox or a 10-speed automatic transmission, while the Mustang GT convertible is available exclusively with the auto in Australia but can be had with a manual in the US.
The Mustang EcoBoost, which is powered by a turbocharged 2.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, is offered in Australia exclusively as a coupe. While the previous (S550) generation could be had with a manual, the current (S650) generation only offers an automatic transmission globally.
The comment comes as Ford expands its racing activities with the Mustang – which runs in Australia’s Supercars category – as well as Ford’s new partnership with Red Bull in Formula One in 2026.
Mr Farley’s commitment to a ‘stick shift’ Mustang also comes only days after BMW M division boss Frank van Meel told CarExpert the German company isn’t looking at developing a new manual for its high-performance models.
It currently offers a six-speed manual in several models, but the transmission isn’t capable of handling the higher outputs in up-spec M cars such as the CS line, which now includes an M2 CS, M3 CS and M4 CS.
A manual non-CS M2 and M3 remain in BMW showrooms in Australia and elsewhere.
“The [BMW] M2, for instance, in the US still has about 50 per cent take rate for the manual, but of course you have to stick to the maximum power output that gearbox can handle.
“You can see that it’s going to be quite difficult in the future to develop a completely new gearbox because the segment in the market is quite small.”
“So we’re happy with manuals we have, and we plan to keep them for the next couple of years – but in the future, it’s probably going to be more difficult to keep manuals alive, especially in the next decade.”
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