Ford confirms last-ever wave of GT Mk IV

It was quite the motor show, Detroit 2015. Well, for Ford at least. As well as a Mustang GT350R, complete with carbon wheels and an 8,200rpm V8, there was a new F-150 Raptor, plus, out of nowhere, a totally new, carbon chassis’d GT supercar. It was hard to know where to look first. The Ecoboost GT was a real show stopper, completely unheard of before Detroit and unavoidable throughout. It then went on to claim that famous Le Mans victory, spawned a whole host of special editions, and culminated in the spectacular GT Mk IV track car announced a couple of years back with Multimatic. It was an unapologetically raw, unforgettable supercar, the GT. 

But all good things must come to an end, and the final V6-engined GTs are now being made. They’re the last versions of the MkIV, so they’ll look as incredible as the golden wonder seen here, wrapping up a 67-unit production run. Interestingly, too, there are some still available to buy, which is almost unheard of in this realm of exotica.

‘An extremely limited number of the mid-engine machines are available and can still be built to the specific requests of buyers at this time’, says today’s announcement, ‘but experience tells us that won’t last long.’ So you know what to do if the Euromillions comes in tonight… 

As a reminder, the MkIV is no mere motorsport-inspired special; Ford even suggests that a non-pro driver can lap one of these as fast as a full-time racer in the GT LM racer. So it’s pretty serious. It can generate up to 3g of lateral grip, and makes more than a tonne of downforce at 150mph. It has Multimatic Adaptive Spool Valve dampers that can be adjusted on the fly, and more than 800hp from a Roush-fettled, 3.8-litre version of the Ecoboost V6 (which is 3.5 litres in standard trim). ‘The Ford GT Mk IV finds itself perfectly placed as a collector car that will be too thrilling to be kept in the garage’, so they say. 

Those existing customers and any new ones will be very much encouraged to drive the MkIV, too, thanks to something called Multimatic On Track. They’re private track days with technical support and tuition from Ford Performance and Multimatic Motorsport pros. The car can then be whisked away after the day and prepped for the next one. Which certainly doesn’t sound like a bad way to spend your free time, especially given the calibre of race tracks available in North America. Look how at home a MkIV is on Laguna Seca…

Ford says enquiries will be taken about the final GTs until October 15th, after which it’s not quite clear what happens. Given the apparently insatiable appetite for this sort of thing in the upper echelons of car obsessives, it’s hard to imagine the remaining MkIVs hanging around for much longer. Because we’ll surely be waiting a while for anything quite like this from Ford again – or a motor show presence like Detroit 10 years ago…