Manoli Katakis 
The 2024 Ford Mustang will usher in a new era for The Original Pony Car with the rollout of the S650 architecture, a fresh interior and exterior design, and new technology that will future-proof the American icon until at least the end of the decade. Most recently, spy photographers caught a glimpse of the interior of the S650 Mustang, and we’re left feeling equal parts excited, and disappointed.
You can view the S650 Mustang spy photos here.
On the exciting side, the S650 Ford Mustang will introduce a mildly flat-bottomed steering wheel to help with ingress/egress. An all-digital instrument panel is also on the way, forgoing the retro look of rounded gauges. We’re bummed to report however that the interior is also absent of the aviation-inspired switch toggles that activated things like the performance exhaust and other functions in the S550 model. In their place is what looks to be a cheaper-looking panel of buttons of a similar layout, bordered by the ignition button on the driver’s side and the volume knob on the passenger’s side. There’s also a button with a Mustang emblem among that cluster of buttons, which is likely a configurable “My Mode” type of feature that we see in other vehicles, like the Chevrolet Corvette’s “Z-Mode” and the “V-Mode” in the Blackwing Cadillacs. The setting allows drivers to customize attributes like suspension firmness, brake feel, steering effort, engine noise, and pedal mapping.
The overall design theme of the S650 Mustang cockpit seems to take a more globalized approach, rather than harkening back to various design elements of yore. This approach has worked for the Mustang brand up to this point, but with its customer base getting older and older, designers may have been tasked with taking a different direction.
Some other changes worth pointing out are the set of rectangular HVAC vents that will replace the rounded ones we see today, while both USB-A and USB-C inputs will be present. Lastly, the gear selectors controlling the 10-speed automatic and 6-speed manual transmissions appear to be carryover parts, as are the transmissions themselves. Engines that are expected out of the gate for the 2024 Ford Mustang are a 2.3L EcoBoost turbo in the base model and a 5.0L Coyote V8 in the Mustang GT. It’s unclear if more performance oriented trims like Mach 1 or Boss 302 will be available at launch.
