New Mustang Bullitt gets 'at least' 475 horses

Ford rolled out a new 475-horsepower Mustang Bullitt in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Steve McQueen film of the same name Sunday at the Detroit auto show. 

The limited-edition, de-badged, manual 'Stang is outfitted with a 5.0-liter V-8 Ford said can crank out "at least" 475-horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque. The vehicle tops out at 163 mph, an 8-mph uptick over the latest Mustang GT. 

The Bullitt nameplate honors the 1968 fastback model Steve McQueen drove in the movie “Bullitt.” Ford released the first Bullitt Mustang in 2001, offering the vehicle in a dark shade of green that was used in the movie. The Blue Oval also released a Bullitt edition in 2008.

Ford turned to Molly McQueen, McQueen's granddaughter, to introduce the new model.

"It's bad-ass," she said. "I love that he wanted the car to be accessible to a lot of people. He wanted in real life for people to capture the thrill of driving it on the street." 

The company rolled out the new green speedster alongside the original Mustang used in the movie. 

The new muscle car debuts this summer, Ford said. It pairs Ford's GT Premium and Performance packages into the vehicle. Buyers can pick from shadow black or dark highland green paint on the outside. The interior has green accent stitching and a 12-inch all-digital LCD instrument cluster.

Ford did not specify Sunday how many Bullitt GTs would be produced.

“This new Bullitt is, as Steve McQueen was, effortlessly cool,” said Darrell Behmer, Mustang chief designer. “As a designer, it’s my favorite Mustang – devoid of stripes, spoilers and badges. It doesn’t need to scream about anything – it’s just cool.”

ithibodeau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Ian_Thibodeau