News / 26 November 2024 / Albert du Toit

New Ford Mustang Dark Horse officially goes on sale in South Africa – Pricing and specifications

The new Ford Mustang Dark Horse has hit the road in South Africa following the launch of the standard GT model in the first week of November.

The Dark Horse carries a R200,000 premium over its sibling with a starting price of R1.5 million on the dot.

For this extra spend, you get the most powerful series-production Mustang GT ever built, with its uprated engine being complemented by a range of track-focused enhancements.

A Dark Horse emerges

The new Dark Horse is the “first new Mustang performance series in 21 years” and the most capable of its kind ever built courtesy of improved aerodynamics, upgraded hardware, new software, and bespoke tuning.

It is equipped with the Blue Oval’s famous 5.0-litre, Coyote V8 engine which has been uprated with piston connecting rods and a dual throttle-body intake design to generate 334kW and 540Nm – 6kW more than the GT – lending it the accolade of being the most powerful naturally aspirated production Mustang in history.

In South Africa, the Dark Horse comes with a 10-speed automatic gearbox with sports paddle shifters only which delivers drive to the rear axle.

With this setup, it sprints to 100km/h in a brisk 4.4 seconds and caps out at 267km/h.

To sharpen the muscle car’s on-track aptitude, the Dark Horse receives brake cooling NACA ducts, an auxiliary engine oil cooler, a rear axle cooler, and a unique and lighter-weight radiator with improved cooling capability and more powerful cooling fans that improve endurance and recovery.

This is in addition to unique chassis tuning, larger rear sway bars, heavy-duty front shocks, a Torsen rear differential, and a lightweight strut tower brace and K-brace.

Substantial stopping power is brought by a Brembo brake system with six-piston callipers and 390mm ventilated discs in front, and four-piston callipers and 355mm ventilated discs at the rear.

Model-unique 19-inch Tarnished Dark low-gloss aluminium wheels are included, too, shod with Pirelli P Zero tyres as standard.

The two-door also gets the MagneRide suspension system capable of monitoring wheel and tyre movement up to 1,000 times per second for optimal grip, as well as an active valve performance exhaust.

Emphasising its more intense nature, the Dark Horse features a bold shadow graphic around darkened LED headlamps, a distinctive gloss black grille with trapezoidal nostrils, high-gloss “fangs” in the lower front bumper, extended side skirts, a fixed rear wing, a new race-inspired diffuser, and darkened quad exhaust tips.

It also sees exclusive badging to visually separate it from the GT variants placed on the fenders, trunk, and door sills; mimicked inside on the instrument panel and digital display screens; while a dark anodized version of the famous pony stays on the nose.

Unique to the track-focused Mustang is a Blue Ember metallic paint, described as “a cool, dark shade that emits a warm glow when it catches the light,” said Ford.

The cabin of the Dark Horse was designed around the driver, seeing a digital cockpit consisting of a 12.4-inch instrument cluster with customisable screens, which flows into a 13.2-inch central infotainment system running the latest Sync 4 operating software.

A thicker flat-bottom steering wheel wrapped in suede and finished with Bright Indigo Blue accent stitching is also fitted, and contrasting blue needlework that matches the blue seatbelts adorns the door panels, seats, gear shift gaiter, and centre console.

The sportier ambience is complemented by a dark metallic gloss finish called Black Alley on the interior trims, bezels, and vents – replacing the familiar bright silver shades of other Mustang trim levels.

Buyers can additionally expect niceties such as keyless entry and start, heated and ventilated leather seats with electric adjustment, dual-zone climate control, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a wireless smartphone charger, and a 12-speaker B&O Sound System.

A comprehensive level of safety and assistance systems is included, too, comprising intelligent adaptive cruise control, lane-centring assist, evasive steer assist, pre-collision assist with pedestrian detection, automatic emergency braking, reverse brake assist, speed sign recognition, active pothole mitigation, and seven airbags.

Finally, customers of the Dark Horse can tick the box on the Appearance Package, which is a no-cost option that includes additional blue accents on the seats, a black-painted roof and unique hood graphics, along with dark Notorious Blue Brembo brake callipers with Grabber Blue Brembo and Mustang logos.