2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 dealer allocation will be limited, lottery based

As good as the new Mustang Boss 302 promises to be, we were certain to see some limitations on supply and no limitation on demand leading up to the car's launch. Most every popular new model experiences some markups and limited accessibility early in its life cycle, and the Boss figures to be no exception.

According to Boss302Forum.com, allocation will be determined in two ways. Large volume dealers that make up 75 percent of sales will receive 75 percent of the allocation. The actual number of cars that those dealers receive will be based on the last 12 months of sales ending in September of 2010 but each dealer is guaranteed at least one Boss.

The remaining 25 percent will be determined via a lottery, with each dealer getting a chip initially and an additional chip for each Mustang it has sold in the last 12 months. The outcome of this is pretty much guaranteed to involve a lot of markups and massive demand, especially since Ford has already announced that the new Boss will be the best handling Mustang ever. As always, if you want the prestige of owning a special car before most everyone else, you will have to pay the price.

2012 Mustang GT500 to have 500hp twin turbo Coyote V8?

The Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 is well renowned for it's power and ability to move quickly in a straight line. About the only thing that folks complain about is the car's porky curb weight. With the car being awfully heavy, it makes it tough to exhibit the type of handling and fuel economy that Ford would probably like to have with the car.

Part of what makes the car heavy is the cast iron block of it's 5.4L V8. With the heft of that, combined with extra equipment, the GT500 is 400 pounds heavier than a GT. We already know that the Mustang is getting powertrain updates in the next couple of years, with EcoBoost engines coming out and the debut of the new 5.0L "Coyote" V8.

Now PickupTrucks.com is reporting that for 2012, the Coyote should spawn a twin turbo variant with over 500 hp for the GT500. With an aluminum block, this engine figures to be markedly lighter than the current engine, which should give the car much better handling. And then there's this report in Autoguide.com that happens to say that there will be an aluminum block 5.4 in the 2011 GT500.

Maybe it's just us, but the latter option sounds a little more realistic. There is already an aluminum version of the 5.4L (see: Ford GT), and a twin turbo 5.0 putting out 500hp would have to be detuned considerably to "only" put out that kind of power.