It's funny how the world gives with one hand as it takes from the other. As more and more manufacturers plunge into the wide world of world-saving electric vehicles and hybrids, the likes of Chevrolet, Dodge, and Ford continue to take their power-wars arms-race to new levels.
And, although it's not necessarily a 'Ford' product through and through, this new Hennessey Heritage Edition Mustang plays a part in that story, too.
The new Mustang, decorated in striping that's inspired by the GT supercar, is Hennessey's way of celebrating their 10,000th tuned car. And while there's a few other visual delights in there too — like an extended front splitter, various other carbon-fibre additions, and new 20-inch wheels — what we really care about is the heart under the bonnet.
It's becoming more and more apparent that Ford's 5.0-litre Coyote V8 has a reasonable threshold for adding power to its stock standard 339kW and 556Nm (a la the 2018 Mustang GT).
And Hennessey have outdone themselves here ... somehow extracting a ridiculous 808hp (603kW) and 918Nm from the five litre donk.
The improvement in output comes from a 3.0-litre supercharger, Hennessey's own bespoke fuel pump and injectors, plus an air-to-water intercooler, and a high-flow air induction system. These additions combined with that output add up to a 0-60mp/h (96km/h) time of 3.3 seconds, and a top speed of more than 320km/h.
The quarter mile is said to be done and dusted in 10.7 seconds.
That's impressive on its own, and only gets more impressive when stacked up alongside other blue-oval Mustang packages. It's almost double the power and torque of the 345kW, 566Nm Mustang BULLITT set to land in New Zealand later in the year, and it's almost 100hp in the green of Roush's Jackhammer, revealed in May.
The only Mustang that could possibly come in touching distance of the Hennessey for sheer grunt could be the upcoming Shelby GT500, which is said to have "more than 700hp" to its name.
Only the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon has more power on tap in this company, although that's only when owners upgrade to the 'Demon Crate' package (which boosts power figures from an identical 808hp to an even more savage 840hp from a 6.2-litre V8).
Now, this is the bit of the story where I talk about how we'll never see one in New Zealand. And, considering Hennessey are only going to make 19 of these Heritage Edition models, it's entirely possible.
But, it's worth noting that for one of the first times in their company's history, Hennessey will be taking orders from all over the world. So, if you want one of these enough to chase one across the world, you can.
Pricing begins at US$89,950, but that's before factoring the bevy of taxes and shipping costs (not to mention the logistics of importing a left-hand drive car) involved getting such a car from one side of the world to the other.
