Ford Performance rebranded as it primes road-going racers

Ford Performance has rebranded to Ford Racing amid preparations for a range of more extreme road cars drawing on its motorsport programmes, in the vein of the Mustang GTD.

With the new name comes a new logo, pairing Ford's historic blue oval emblem with a modern ‘Racing’ typeface in a matching shade.

Will Ford, general manager of Ford Racing, said the change is “more than a simple rebranding exercise”, bringing the road and race car operations together under one roof. 

With that will come an expansion of the American brand’s performance car range.

Ford CEO Jim Farley recently hinted at the prospect of a 1000bhp Ranger Raptor pick-up truck inspired by the brand’s Dakar Rally contender, for example, having told Bloomberg: “No one has ever built a supercar for gravel, high-speed sand, dirt.”

What the future holds for more affordable fast Fords remains unclear. Production of the Ford Focus ST is soon to end and the Puma ST’s 197bhp 1.5-litre engine and manual gearbox were dropped last year. This means the only performance cars in Ford's UK line-up are the less powerful 1.0-litre Puma ST, the V8 Mustang and the Mustang Mach-E GT SUV.

The new Ford Racing branding will be applied to Ford's race cars with immediate effect, although Will Ford said it will “come into life” at the Dakar Rally and Daytona 24 Hours next January.