New RR500 Turboprop engine in the Mooney

[KSMooniac]

I'll bet a dollar we'll never see an RR500 on the nose of an M20 airframe from the factory.  It was more expensive, slower, and burned a LOT more fuel than an Acclaim as described previously, so the only benefits are better reliability and the ability to burn Jet A.  The new M10 line has diesel powerplants, so that is apparently the direction Mooney is going for export sales to places that don't have 100LL.  

 

Maybe if all goes well and thousands of M10's are sold, then we can realistically dream about the next evolution of the Mooney line with a pressurized XC plane, powered by a diesel or turboprop or the future un-leaded avgas and a cabin that holds modern Americans.