---
title: "Ford Predicted Our Turbocharged Future All the Way Back in 1984"
description: "It seemed dystopian then, but a few decades later, the prophecy has become a reality."
date: "2020-07-16"
modified: "2020-07-16"
authors:
  - name: "James Gilboy"
    job_title: "Contributing Writer"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/james-gilboy"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/34884/ford-predicted-our-turbocharged-future-all-the-way-back-in-1984"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "Ford News"
  - "History"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
tags:
  - "Ford"
---

# Ford Predicted Our Turbocharged Future All the Way Back in 1984

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2020/07/Ford-Mustang_SVO-1984-1600-01.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

As recently as a decade back, we believed there to be truly no replacement for displacement. Want big power? Need big engine. \[*Grunts of agreement*\] But small, turbocharged engines started to supersede larger, naturally aspirated plants in force across the Twenteens, first appearing in supercars like the McLaren MP4-12C and Mercedes-AMG GT, and later on, nearly the entire lineups of mainstream automakers. It's a future almost nobody saw coming—nobody except for Ford, which prophetically foretold this turbo trend 36 years ago.

"In the long run, we believe small-displacement engines with turbos will be the only performance engines," said Ford's then-marketing manager Dave Hall in the April 1984 issue of [*Popular Science*](<https://books.google.com.gi/books?id=sQAAAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA78#v=twopage&q&f=true>). "We foresee the time when we will no longer offer a V8 as a performance engine."

Mid-1980s Ford, of course, also foresaw the Mustang going front-wheel drive, which it tried to make happen with a Mazda MX-6-based coupe that it later renamed the Probe after customer outcry. Hall's forecast of the V8's disappearance also has yet to be fulfilled, and given Ford's recent introduction of [an all-new, 7.3-liter truck V8](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/32831/this-supercharger-kit-will-push-your-ford-7-3-liter-v-8-to-a-whopping-700-hp>), the configuration's demise still seems distant—though perhaps not as distant as it did a week ago.

[Ford's biggest new product of the year, the 2021 Bronco](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/34816/2021-ford-bronco-reservation-site-crashes-under-massive-demand>), will not be available with a V8 engine at launch, and will instead lean on a 2.7-liter, twin-turbo V6 in its top-performing variants. The new F-150, too, has also shown a shift toward efficiency with the [introduction of a hybrid powertrain](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/34345/hybrid-2021-ford-f-150-powerboost-targets-700-mile-range-12000-pound-tow-rating>) and the pending launch of an all-electric model. More worryingly, [the exotic, 5.2-liter Voodoo V8 from the Mustang Shelby GT350 appears to be near discontinuation](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/32875/2021-ford-mustang-mach-1-makes-comeback-but-shelby-gt350s-axed-report>).

Sure, the likes of Jeep and other [Stellantis](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/34856/the-merged-fiat-chrysler-and-peugeot-group-will-be-called-stellantis>)-run marques will stuff V8s into everything they produce until emissions regulators come knocking on their door, but their many-cylindered revelry seems more like a last hurrah than the reascension of sheer displacement. And considering how global temperature trends have looked this past century, maybe it's for the best cars lose a cylinder or two... Though perhaps we should start with those container ships carrying your Alibaba-sourced Wrangler parts, hm?

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## Author
James is a former staff writer for The Drive. He has changed the conversation around electrification, debunked misinformation online, and become a prominent hunter of what he calls "automotive cryptids."

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/jamesgilboy>)