The Dodge Challenger is in showrooms, and has won a spot on the cover of most automotive magazines at least once so far this year.  The upcoming 2010 Chevy Camaro stole the public eye shortly thereafter, with heavy publicity even though it won't hit showrooms for quite some time.  Their muscle car competition, the Ford Mustang, must be feeling left out.  The facelifted 2009 Mustang has barely won a whisper from the press.  What is Ford to do? 

The answer, apparently, is 'Start hyping the 2010 model before the 2009 even goes on sale.'

Ford has unveiled a new website devoted to the car, complete with a clock counting down the minutes until its unveiling at the Los Angeles Auto Show this fall.  Autoblog reports, "Ford has invited fans of the original Pony Car to recount related stories on its new website, the2010mustang.com. Starting August 27, the site will give visitors the opportunity to share their tales, with the most compelling story winning the writer his very own 2010 Mustang, along with a trip to LA to see the wraps come off." 

Kicking Tires notes that Mustang enthusiasts can "sign up for updates…to guarantee that any information will be passed on to you."

The site is completely bare of information at the moment.  So what do we expect from the 2010 pony car?  Spy shots of the car in heavy camouflage suggest that it will retain the retro look of the current Mustang, but with a revised rear fascia and probably a new grille and headlights, possibly drawn from the Giugiaro Mustang Concept seen here at Autoblog.  With cars competing for fuel-efficiency as much as horsepower in today's market, Ford may choose to offer its newly-developed EcoBoost turbocharged V6 engine on the Mustang -- trying to match the power of the V8s that drive the Camaro and Challenger, but with a smaller, more efficient engine.   

Motor Trend notes, however, that "V-8s will still be very much part of the Mustang program for 2010. If the EcoBoost version does make production, Ford would probably offer it alongside the V-8, and let buyers decide which they prefer. There won't be much of a price difference, if any - although the base V-6 is a cheaper engine, by the time things like turbochargers are added it's basically V-8 money."

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