I hope you like blue. The 2024 Ford Mustang GT California Special package has just been unveiled, and it looks like Ford gave its greenest intern $150 to spend on AliExpress. Yes, this is a real factory-installed appearance package, and you might soon see it on a new Mustang near you. I believe I speak for everyone when I say “What the hell?”
See, Ford’s come up with this color called — and I’m not joking — Rave Blue, and has decided to just go wild with it. It’s on the wheels, it’s on the stripes, it’s on the badges, it’s on the new horizontally-slatted grille, it’s just absolutely everywhere. What goes with blue? Well, if you’re a skateboarder or do roller derby, black, so that’s the other accent color on this stickered-up Mustang.
Things get better on the inside as blue accents elevate the dreariness of an otherwise black cabin. Blue inserts on the seats and steering wheel brighten things up a touch, as does blue and grey stitching on otherwise dark materials. I’m a fan of colored interiors, so this is the only part of the California Special package I can endorse.
Admittedly, the blue exterior accents are hilarious in the greater context of the automotive kingdom. It hasn’t been that long since every eco-friendly car from Germany to Japan was plastered in blue accents, so to put a bit of blue on pretty much every exterior part on a Mustang elicits a certain incongruity.
However, when I learned that this California Special package costs $1,995 on top of a Mustang GT Premium, I just about fell out of my chair. Sure, the blue-stitched interior can’t be cheap, but I couldn’t fathom paying two grand for something that looks like this. It’s wild to think that someone with presumably functioning eyes looked at this visual package and decided it was sick. However, Ford will print money with this package, and Mustang Brand Manager Joe Bellino explained why in a press release statement:
Mustang has a rich well of special edition models to draw from, and we’ll continue to reinvent them for a new audience. From the track-ready Dark Horse to the world-beating Mustang GTD, Ford is elevating the Mustang for all audiences. The new, modern Mustang GT California Special is a perfect example of our drive to build a Mustang for every customer.
It turns out, there are plenty of Mustang customers with bad taste out there, and if Ford can get a slice of the tackiness market, all the power to it. Who knows? Maybe Dodge will start making tape stripes that look like splitter guards.
(Photo credits: Ford)
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That’s….. a bit self-evident/redundant, don’t you think?
On behalf of California, I respectfully decline the honor Ford has bestowed upon us with a trim name. Maybe Texas will enjoy it.
When I clicked I honestly thought it was one of Torch’s edits where he highlights certain aspects of a car.
Horrendous.
Can Bishop speak to the new pedestrian crash standards and how companies try to make the front end look low and sleek and then fail horribly. The top photo makes it look like the Mustang’s hood is a wave, rolling up from the glass and then down to the grille. Super ugly. Not sleek or low *it isn’t allowed to be*. Such a design challenge.
It might be only slightly ugly with black or another dark color. It looks awful with silver. Silver is just a terrible color for a new mustang regardless
Yeah, the real fashion crime here is the silver Mustang. There’s no coming back from that kind of bad decision. 😉
Reminiscent of anything with a 4Xe drivetrain. Honestly I see plenty of gaudy stuff on mustangs anymore, this seems to be a nod to that crowd, apparently more prevalent in California I guess.
“Sure, the blue-stitched interior can’t be cheap”
Why not if the only difference is color? Is blue thread so much more expensive than black?
Cost to stock and track new skews for the raw materials, wip, and finished inventory. Plus, higher rejection rates or the need for tighter QC on the stitching since it is more visible. I mean, not like piles of cash expensive but adding more cost for sure.
Is it even enough to justify the expense of figuring out how much more?
oh, they do. Might be back of the napkin, but they tag a cost to it one way or another. They probably have a generic adder that they apply depending on skus etc. they won’t do a study for something like this.
Lol
SKUs
While most of the exterior color accents are solidly “meh”, the item that tips the scales for me into “dislike” is the side stripes. They look like they were intended to be an homage to the stripes on earlier Mustangs, but then they decided to make them angled, uneven, and not really follow any body line (unless there is a body line beneath them on the door – I can’t quite tell). The fact that the stripe then follows onto the rear bumper, where it then arbitrarily ends instead of completing the curve and meeting with the rear valance bugs me to no end.
On their next trip to America, this is what Patsy and Edina will rent.
You could buy a regular GT and accomplish the same thing with a couple rolls of blue and black pinstriping tape for $8 each.
But why would you?
I couldn’t put my finger on it. Rave Blue=Painters Tape Blue
I don’t mind the wheels.
The blue nostrils on the grill are terrible.
My thoughts exactly. I’ve always kind of liked colored wheels, gives it visual snap. Anything to get away form the “I’m a badass, just look at my black wheels” thing that every vehicle in the damn world has the have now.