Ford (F) announced Wednesday that it will halt production of its $500,000 GT supercar later this year. However, a limited-release special edition model paying homage to the vehicle’s racing history is in the works.
The Detroit automaker on Wednesday said the 2022 Ford GT LM (Le Mans) Edition will be the last model of the third-generation car, which was revived in 2016 after a decade of being off the market.
Only 20 of the GT LM Edition cars will be produced, making them instant collector’s items. The release is a direct tribute to the 1964 Ford GT prototype that became America’s only Le-Mans winning supercar.
This 1966 win was depicted in the 2019 film “Ford v. Ferrari” — as a U.S. automaker swept the podium for the first time in the famed French race. The supercar has also seen recent success, winning the 2016 Le Mans race overall in a triumphant return to the top.
“As we close this chapter of the road-going Ford GT, the GT LM Edition gave us a chance to inject even more heart and soul from a podium-finishing race car, furthering the tribute to our 2016 Le Mans win,” Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsports, said in a release.
The current third-generation GT was kept a secret until the 2015 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Even within the company Ford only allowed select executives and engineers access to the vehicle, keeping the model in a basement room in a building near its headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan.
Deliveries for the supercar are scheduled to begin this fall with production coming to a close later this year, according to the automaker. Ford has yet to comment on the exact price tag of the high-end vehicle, stating only that GT pricing has started at $500,000.
As of 10:35 a.m. Wednesday, Ford’s stock was trading at 12.16, down .20 or 1.66%.
