Giugiaro's final Mustang Concept, completed in September 2006, is immediately recognizable as a Mustang - a testament to Giugiaro's commitment to "honoring the icon." Yet side by side with its production-car muse, the Mustang Concept radiates an altogether different vibe. The tape tells the objective story: The show car is more than two inches shorter overall, two inches lower, and more than four inches wider at its maximum (the bodywork swells dramatically from front to rear). But the numbers don't convey the Mustang Concept's Italian sleekness and flair - the drawn-bow tension of its stretched hood and clipped tail, the brawn of its 20-inch rims and inflated wheel arches, the rakish, arrowlike LED taillights (arranged in three vertical bars that recall the original Mustang's), and - most conspicuous - the dramatic glass roof that flows in a single, uninterrupted arc from hoodline to rear deck. "Because this s a concept car, it has to be more sporty, more extreme," Giugiaro says of the glass, "but within limits." The roof's curved panel, produced by Solutia in Detroit, is made out of a special crystal that filters out 100 percent of UVA rays. "I was worried the cockpit would get hot,' Giugiaro says, 'but I've driven it on warm sunny days, and it is not a problem at all." (Giugiaro admits the fixed door windows made of polycarbonate, are poor at blocking solar radiation; he may replace them with glass before the Geneva reveal.)
While Giugiaro calls the production Mustang "a very simple and nice car," for his design, he wanted more pizzazz than even the all-glass roof could provide. Thus, the Mustang Concept's doors open upward, Lamborghini-style. Crafted in lightweight carbon-fiber - like the rest of the bodywork - the scissor doors even do the Murcielago one better: both raise and lower electrically at the push of dash-mounted buttons.
Critiquing his Mustang's exterior, Giugiaro is refreshingly candid. He's particularly proud of the front wheel arches, which flow smoothly into the one-piece nose clip ("J Mays noticed that right away," Giugiaro says, smiling). "But if I had to do it over again, I'd have cut the platform [the Concept shares the same 107.1-inch wheelbase as the production Mustang] and stretched it a bit. While the car looks right standing still, on the track it seems somewhat short."
If the Mustang Concept's body is American with Italian seasoning, the cockpit is pure Torino. Chrome ringed analog gauges float on a door-to-door expanse of glossy black Plexiglas (when the car is switched on, the dash comes alive with three TV screens fed by cameras that replace the side- and rearview mirrors). A chrome shifter shaped like a connecting rod juts up from the center console. Almost every surface is trimmed in orange or dark-brown horsehide ("For effect, I tell people it's horsehide," Giugiaro says with a laugh. "But really it's cow"). The only familiar element is the Mustang emblem on the steering wheel. "I pushed on the inside," Giugiaro says, "and in Europe I've received some criticism for it. One person called the cabin 'nasty.' For sure it's spectacular. Loud but elegant. I think that's right for the Mustang."
From the driver's seat, the effect is invigorating--the cockpit's shapes and materials have the pulse-raising cool of one of Ken Adam's sets from a 1960s Bond movie.
Particularly stunning, of course, is that unobstructed, fishbowl vista of sky--which in this setting affords a thrilling view of the F-22 Raptors circling for touch-and-goes at adjacent Nellis Air Force Base. Press the dash rocker, and the doors glide down before sealing with a click. There's no ignition key: The engine starts with two pushes of a dash button.
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