The Ford Mustang is the world's best selling sports coupe.
It is a brand some Ford employees consider the soul of the company.
It's one of our crown jewels.
It is. You couldn't imagine a Ford without Mustang.
It has been in continuous production for a half a century and has survived
Ford's most difficult times.
Originally conceived as a lean, sporty and affordable car aimed at younger
people, it has earned a larger than life reputation and has become a
symbol of American automotive muscle.
But now Ford has put the Mustang name on a vehicle unlike any other in its
history. An electric four-door crossover.
Like other pure electric vehicles commonly referred to as EVs the Mustang
Mach-E runs entirely on electricity stored in batteries.
One of the things that I think some of the EVs are missing and one of the
things that I believe that we are able to bring with this Mustang is a
sense of that that soul that, you know, a lot of these cars don't have
that soul to them. They don't they don't have any emotion to them.
And the Mustang is all about emotion.
Meanwhile, some longtime Mustang fans are said to be up in arms over the
new vehicle. But others say that times are changing and data suggests the
traditional Mustang and its pony car competitors are facing a dwindling
fan base.
The Mustang traces its roots back to the 1960s, when Ford executives such
as then President Lee Iacocca, product planning executive, Hal Sperlich
and others came up with the idea for a small four-seat car that was sporty
but functional. The design was heavily influenced by European sports cars
from makers such as the British brand, MG.
The Mustang debuted at the World's Fair in the spring of 1964, months
ahead of the fall season, when automakers typically debuted new models.
Nearly 30 million people are thought to have seen the TV commercials on
all three U.S.
networks that ran the night before.
On the day of the unveiling, Ford placed full page ads in 2,600 U.S.
newspapers and displayed Mustangs in the lobbies of 200 Holiday Inns and
15 major U.S.
airports. It went on sale at the more than 8,100 Ford dealerships across
the U.S. the day it was revealed.
At a starting price of $2,368 below the $2,500 limit the team
had wanted. Only thing about Mustang is making a high performance vehicle
that is accessible to all or to many.
And that's what Mustang is really all about.
It's not about being exclusive.
It's about inviting people into what we like to refer to as the "Mustang
cult." Over 400,000 units sold in the car's first year, four times what
Ford had initially expected to sell.
From the very beginning, flexibility was built in as a key feature of the
car. The powertrain lineup really spanned a pretty wide range of budgets
and tastes and needs.
There are plenty people that really just liked the style of it and didn't
need to go fast. And then there were those go fast people that, you know,
really wanted the hottest engine.
It's important. Understand that the original Mustang was a bid by Ford to
develop a vehicle that was aimed at young people of the time, young adults
of the time. It was really a youth oriented car in its day.
This was an American car that could appeal to all sorts of buyers.
But soon the car became known as a performance machine.
Over the years, Mustang's became extremely popular choices for racing, and
it has become common for buyers and drivers to make their own alterations
to the car to improve performance.
Part of the magic of Mustang was that it was based on very humble
underpinnings. I mean, it was it was based on the early 60s, Ford Falcon.
You know, you could drop in a whole variety of engines in there and there
was plenty of room under the very long hood to add all sorts of power
enhancers. So this was a car that was very, very easy for people to work
on themselves, for people to add performance parts to.
It's those aftermarket tuners and the aftermarket in general that was
supporting a rabid demand by young enthusiasts to build very, very
personalized personal products that reflected specifically the owner of
the vehicle. Mustangs are routinely considered to have some of the best
aftermarket support of any sports or performance car on the market.
Smaller tuning shops have developed reputations for their own versions of
the Mustang. Some of these, such as Saleen and Roush, have become rather
legendary names in their own right.
Part of what makes Mustang such a strong brand for many of its fans is its
sense of continuity.
Unlike its closest competitors, the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger,
the Mustang has remained in continuous production since 1964.
Of course, Ford has made some changes to the vehicle over time, and some
of those changes have been controversial, especially when Ford has toyed
with the Mustang formula to make a greener, more efficient car.
In the 1970s, Ford came out with a smaller Mustang called the Mustang II
aimed customers worried about fuel economy
during a time when gas prices were soaring due to a fuel crisis.
The first oil crisis served not only to make gasoline expensive and
scarce, but also things like the Clean Air Act resulted in automakers
really having to pull back on performance in favor of fuel economy and
cleaner emissions. And at the time, the technology just simply didn't
exist to make an engine be able to do both.
You know, today, you know, nowadays, you know, we have cars that are, you
know, extremely clean and produce 600 horsepower.
Back then, there was much more of a tradeoff.
You could either have something that didn't pollute as much or you could
have something that was more powerful, but you really couldn't do both.
The downsized car came with a four cylinder engine, though it was
well-received in some corners in the automotive world as a car for its
time. Other fans reportedly cried foul and the car still inspires
arguments among enthusiasts.
In 2015, Ford risked the controversy again when it again swapped out a six
cylinder engine for a four cylinder EcoBoost engine in its lowest price
versions. Ford's newer four cylinder engines pack a lot more power than
older versions. But putting the Mustang badge on an electric SUV is
perhaps its biggest change.
For many fans, an internal combustion engine is just part of what makes a
Mustang, a Mustang.
In addition, the Mustang has always been a two-door car, but the Mustang
Mach-E is a four-door crossover, a very popular configuration that
nonetheless arouses the ire of sports car traditionalists.
Right? I absolutely think there is a lot of controversy.
Mustang is one of the most storied nameplates, not just for Ford, but in
the entire industry. So it's absolutely understandable that there's a lot
of controversy among Mustang fans and Mustang purists over adding this
type of a vehicle to the Mustang family.
But what I like to say is that if the Mustang nameplate could withstand
the Mustang II, I think they'll be all right.
Fans of other performance oriented brands such as Porsche and BMW have
howled in the past when those companies introduced their own crossovers or
sport utility vehicles.
But some industry observers say the Mach-E gives Ford a chance to appeal
to a new segment of buyers at a time when enthusiasm for traditional
passenger cars is dying out.
Mustang may be the best selling car in its segment, but the segment
overall is shrinking.
Frankly, if you look at sales of the current Mustang, which debuted in
2015, sales have really dropped off a cliff ever since that car debuted.
It's not any fault of the car.
The current Mustang is actually a fantastic sports coupe.
It does a great job of carrying on the Mustang legacy.
But consumer interest in two door coupes is just simply not there.
It's dropping steadily.
Fewer and fewer people are interested in that sort of a car.
And frankly, a lot of the people that are interested in a two-door coupe
tend to be a lot older.
You know, a lot of baby boomers, a lot of empty nesters, which means and
suggests that the Mustang name is becoming less and less relevant to
younger people nowadays.
From the 1980s to the mid 2000s, U.S.
Mustang sales regularly hit six-figure volumes.
Ford sold almost 174,000 Mustangs to Americans in the year 2000.
Volume fell below the six-figure mark from 2008 to 2014.
Around the time the U.S.
economy went into recession.
The next time it broke, 100,000 units in the U.S.
was in 2015.
The last time it redesigned the car.
But sales steadily fell from there to roughly 76,000 units in 2018.
Sales of the Mustangs close competitor, the Chevrolet Camaro grew from
nearly 62,000 in 2009 to 86,000 in 2014, but have fallen since
then to about 51,000 in twenty eighteen.
One of the brightest growth stories in the segment has been the Dodge
Challenger, which has enticed buyers with its retro looks, a wide range of
trims and options and lots of horsepower.
Sales of that car grew from 17,000 in 2008 to nearly 67,000 in 2018.
That is despite the fact the car did not undergo any major redesign during
that entire decade.
But those numbers still pale in comparison to the volumes Mustang achieved
a few decades ago.
And some industry watchers wonder how long the Challenger can sustain its
growth. In fact, some data indicate the Mustang name has far greater
notoriety than Mustang sales would suggest.
Mustang always is the number number five most shopped car that's behind
Camry, Corolla, Civic, Accord.
And you know, you know, it's not the fifth selling best car in America.
But but it does generate a ton of shopping consideration.
It's an aspirational vehicle.
And so they're capitalizing on that.
The name is also widely known outside the U.S.
We have as many Mustang clubs, nearly as many Mustang clubs outside of the
United States as we have inside the United States.
So this product has been loved globally, even though it wasn't offered as
a product globally until the 2015 Mustang, when it was truly a global
offering from Ford Motor Companies.
The idea of what a performance car can or even ought to be is changing.
People have found that, you know, you don't need a sporty car to
necessarily be limited to two-doors.
There are so many four-door vehicles out there that give you much more
everyday functionality and ease of use without sacrificing performance.
So performance is absolutely not dead.
I mean, you look out in the marketplace right now and I mean, if anything,
there, you know, there is a major horsepower war going on right now, but
there are by and large not involving two-door cars.
We all need our cars to be multi-functional, to be able to carry people,
to be able to carry cargo.
Frankly, that's one of the core reasons why SUVs have gained in popularity
so much. You know, over the years.
Rising electric vehicle maker Tesla built its business in part by creating
electric cars with sleek designs that can deliver high performance that
match or beat cars with gasoline engines.
Somewhat like Tesla does with its cars, Ford is emphasizing the mock ease
performance specs.
There will be two performance versions a G.T.
that Ford said should go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in under four seconds
and a G.T. performance edition, which will deliver 0 to 60 acceleration in
the mid three second range.
The whole program started in its very early stages as sort of a compliance
product. It was something that we felt, you know, hey, we should we need
to start looking at this. We need to figure out how we're going to meet
these regulations that are on top of us.
And very quickly, this thing started to become something that we realized
it wasn't something that was going to be an amazing machine or something
that was gonna be desirable.
So we scratched those plans and went back to the drawing board and said,
"how do we do something that will inspire and be exciting?"
The Mach-E can be updated to an unprecedented degree for a Ford vehicle
via over the air software updates, a technique Tesla is credited with
pioneering. Even the Mach-E cabin, with its large vertical touchscreen,
bears some resemblance to those found in Tesla models such as the Model S
and Model X.
But Tesla is by no means the only target.
Many in the industry point out that when it comes to high performance,
electric cars simply have certain fundamental advantages over those that
run on gasoline.
We know it is the future and you kind of just look at it the same way that
many of other technologies have died off.
People, you know, they pooh-poohed electronic fuel injection when
carbonation was around. So I could do to myself, I could do whatever I
want. Look at it nowadays, right.
Like there's no such thing as carburetor cars on the road.
And several brands with strong racing and performance heritages are also
going electric. Jaguar, Porsche, Mercedes, BMW and others are all
developing performance vehicles with electric power trains.
Ford also stresses that it is not abandoning its more traditional
Mustangs, including those with V8 engines.
While those vehicles are very much a part of our future and consistent
with Mustang throughout the years now, right, we've always had special
editions that is not going to stop.
And there's stuff that you need to just stay tuned on because we've got
we've got some things that we'll be sharing in the near future here.
But another question that remains for the Mach-E is how badly customers
actually want electric cars.
Despite improvements in battery technology and charging speeds, buyers
still seem reluctant to make the switch.
Virtually all the major OEMs are working on big dollar E.V.
projects right now.
They're all gonna be launching in the next few years.
However, according to AutoPacific's own data, demand for a full electric
car has hovered between 3 to 4 percent over the last 10 years.
What that suggests is that we really may have a situation where where
supply drastically outstrips demand.
The Mach-E is an example of a relatively new strategy.
Carmakers are using to lure buyers, touting their practical advantages as
much as their environmental benefits.
That's why Tesla is succeeding.
The Tesla products are aspirational.
They're cool. Then you compare that to most of the other E.V.
products out there. You know, the Mustang name, of course, is very
aspirational in and of itself.
Now it's applied to this very new concept that despite being a four-door
crossover, it's still very, very sleek.
And the numbers really speak for themselves.
Offering high performance and high tech features might be the best way to
put people in the driver's seat.