Ford rebranded its performance arm as Ford Racing earlier this year. The move highlights that Ford will be doing its most high-profile racing sometime as a new partner for Red Bull in Formula 1. But the Ford Racing rebrand will also be about connecting Ford’s racing efforts with its production cars. Ford Performance never became Ford’s equivalent of Mercedes-AMG or BMW M, and the long-dead Special Vehicle Team (SVT) never expanded the way it was once envisioned.
It sounds like Ford wants the newly christened Ford Racing to be more than just a place for race cars and race car parts. We should get our first look at a new Ford Racing production-car effort in January.
Ford announced it is holding its racing season launch in Detroit on January 15, 2026, during the Detroit Auto Show. During that launch At that time, Ford will offer a first look at an all-new production road car. According to Ford:
“But the excitement doesn’t stop with our track and trail warriors. For the first time ever, fans worldwide will also get an exclusive sneak peek at an all-new Ford Racing production road car – a testament to how deeply we’re integrating our racing innovation into the vehicles you drive every day. The racetrack is our ultimate proving ground, fast-tracking developments that will soon be under the hood and in the chassis of your next Ford.”
Ford didn’t provide any details about this “all-new” production car. Calling it a road car means it will be street-legal and something one could presumably order from a Ford dealer. The question is what Ford means by “all-new.” Automakers use the term liberally, ranging from a genuine clean-sheet design to something like a next-generation Ford Explorer crossover that borrows very heavily from the one that came before.
Ford didn’t leave much to go on with its description. But the fact that the company specifically called it a Ford Racing production car is very interesting. That strongly suggests it will be a version of something that already exists, and we have a couple of ideas about what it could be based on previous reporting and some well-informed speculation.
Interestingly (or totally coincidentally), Ford bookended the section of its press release where it talked about the new Ford Racing car with photos of its Dakar rally beast Raptor T1+ pickup. As Autocar notes, Ford CEO Jim Farley has speculated about such an off-road supercar in the past, saying “no one has ever built a supercar for gravel, high-speed sand, dirt.” We suspect Porsche and Lamborghini might have something to say about that, but a road-going version of that truck could be an all-new vehicle. And even if it’s not called that, the car could be the “Mustang Raptor” that has received ample speculation.
The new car could also be something a bit more true to form for Ford Racing. Ford has its halo Mustang GTD, a de facto replacement for the Ford GT. We’ve seen new Mustang GTD prototypes testing with enhanced aero elements and a new supercharger at the Nürburgring. It would be surprising if Ford did not add a production performance package for the Mustang GTD based on those lap-time tweaks. It lines up with what Ford Racing (and Ford Performance) has done in the past. But a tweaked version of the Mustang GTD would be a big stretch to call “all-new.”
In any case, we won’t have long to wait. A quick look at the calendar shows January 2026 is just seven weeks away.
Sources: Ford, Bloomberg
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