With these spy photos of the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 comes the news from Ford that the all-new supercharged 5.8-liter powerplant has been officially SAE-certified as the most powerful production V8 in the world with output of 662hp and 631lb-ft of torque. Putting that in perspective, that means topping the Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG by 99hp, the Cadillac CTS-V by 106hp and its direct competitor the Chevy Camaro ZL1 by 82hp and 75lb-ft of torque.

"Our goal is to create outstanding all-around performance cars, not just stoplight-to-stoplight sprinters," said Jamal Hameedi, SVT chief engineer. "We've backed up this amazing powerplant with a more refined chassis tuning that helps keep the rubber on the pavement without punishing the driver's spine and six-pot Brembo brakes that dissipate speed with ease stop after stop." With enough power to shift the coupe to beyond 200mph, the chassis has been tuned to absorb road imperfections that cause instability at high speeds. A revised front fascia and splitter help air flow management around and under the car.

"The engineers at Ford SVT focused on the fundamentals first with solid mechanical grip and strong brakes," added Hameedi. "On top of that platform they added advanced driver-adjustable electronic assist features including launch control, Bilstein adjustable damping, AdvanceTrac stability control and electric power-assisted steering." The 2013 Shelby GT500 has also improved on fuel efficiency despite having the most powerful V8 in the world, with 15/24mpg city/highway, which is 5mpg better on the highway than the current Camaro ZL1.