• Ford has announced that it will revive the Cobra—and likely the Cobra R—names on the Mustang as soon as next year.
  • The company posted a lengthy audio clip of the Cobra’s exhaust, and we believe the new Mustang will have a version of the GT3 race car’s 5.4-liter V-8.
  • Ford’s confirmation comes a day after a report that the automaker is working on a Shelby GT350 successor that’ll be released sometime in 2027.

Did someone order a GTD Lite? Well, it seems Ford has one on the table. Ford Racing just posted an exciting new teaser on its Instagram and Facebook accounts that confirms the legendary Cobra nameplate will return next year. Giving the people what they want, Ford also included a gloriously lengthy audio clip as part of the post.

The reborn Cobra will feature an all-new motor, “born from racing,” according to Ford Racing. We’ve heard grumblings that Ford is planning to take the 5.4-liter V-8 from its GT3 race cars and homologate it for the road. We’d have to wager that the Cobra is that car, though to our ears, this exhaust sounds a bit more like the revival of Ford’s flat-plane-crank Voodoo engine. Watching through to the end of the video, the appearance of a blue “R” also hints that we could get both Cobra and Cobra R variants.

In any event, we’re pretty confident that the now-confirmed Cobra is the same car as the reported successor to the Shelby GT350 that we wrote about yesterday. That report suggested that the next Mustang variant would be a track special with upgraded braking, improved cooling, and a similar widebody kit to the supercharged Dark Horse SC.

The timelines match up for the Cobra to serve as the successor to the Shelby GT350 as well. Yesterday’s report suggested that the new GT350 will arrive in 2027. Ford Racing’s post says, “The story continues in 2027.”

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Jack Fitzgerald’s love for cars stems from his as yet unshakable addiction to Formula 1. After a brief stint as a detailer for a local dealership group in college, he knew he needed a more permanent way to drive all the new cars he couldn’t afford and decided to pursue a career in auto writing. By hounding his college professors at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he was able to travel Wisconsin seeking out stories in the auto world before landing his dream job at Car and Driver. His new goal is to delay the inevitable demise of his 2010 Volkswagen Golf.