My thoughts on the 2015 Ford Mustang
Today marks the official reveal from Ford of their next generation Ford Mustang. This generation kicks off the 50th year of the pony car and the Mustang Community, long-time fans of the Mustang, and the world as a whole have all been waiting to get a glimpse of Dearborn's new iconic sports car.
Designing any car is tough but redesigning a classic like the Mustang has got to carry with it a ton of pressure. On one hand, it has to still be a Mustang. It has to have the long hood, the short deck, the pony in the forward-slanted grill, 3 bar taillights, with the engine in front and the drive wheels in the back. You have 50 years of heritage and muscle to carry on. (God Bless America!) On the other hand, you also have to compete with buyers who aren't just looking at Mustangs and Camaros but are also looking at more practical "sports" cars like the Volkwagen GTI, Toyoburu BRZ/FRS, Mazda MX-5, each of which are trying to bring performance and everyday practicality to the masses the same way Henry Ford wanted for the original Mustang. You can't just keep putting higher-power V8s in it and call it "the new" Mustang.
Designing something so retro and so modern all at once is no simple task. Go too modern and you alienate all of the old-guard Mustang fans (which is a big reason as to why the Mustang is one of the most popular cars in the world). Go too retro and you're not gaining many new buyers. Most of the people that have the money and the desire to own a Mustang do own one. Keep it the same and eventually you're just beating a dead-horse.
Other manufacturers go through the same thing, particularly motorcycle manufacturers like Harley Davidson. When they made the V-rod, a lot of the Milwaukee Faithful said it was terrible (It got mediocre reviews from testers as well, who weren't totally sure what Harley was going for). It was the first modern bike that Harley had produced in a long time and it was sort of a miss. HD has long stuck to it's bread and butter of making the best traditional cruiser, even to the point that so many other manufacturers all but flat-out copy Harley icons. (Don't believe me? Take a look at the Sportster next to the Star Bolt or Honda Shadow 750RS.) While Harleys are still as popular as ever, the average age of it's buyers has risen over the last 25 years. And think about it; How many young motorcycle buyers are looking at an air-cooled 45 degree V-twin making 60hp when they can get any sport bike and have 100+hp at half the weight? Probably none. Younger buyers want more.
I personally think that with all the pressure to have a retro inspired design while still keeping up with modern engineering and staying competitive on a global scale, this new Mustang nails it. Initial reactions from Facebook comments, Reddit comments and other websites, it seems the general public isn't happy with it. While simply not liking it is fine (how good something looks or doesn't look is completely subjective after all), I'm surprised at some of the comments I've read. Some people are saying it looks like a Dodge/Nissan/Camaro/etc. I personally don't see any of that. What I'm curious to hear about is how these people would change it.
What I do see are strong cues from past Mustang designs along with a lot of current design cues from Ford's current lineup of cars. Like I said earlier the headlights look very Fusion/Taurus inspired but that's expected. The grill looks very "new Ford" as well. The rear deck panel and new taillights look awesome and very retro while still being infused with modern technology. I can't wait to read the first real reviews of this new pony!
New Mustang Haters, did you expect Ford to just leave the 2013/2014 design alone forever and keep making frumpy hybrids? We've seen the new Edge, new Taurus, new Escape, new Fiesta, new Focus, new Fusion.... what were you expecting from the new Mustang? Seriously; Enlighten me. The Mustang has always had signature Mustang styling features but it's also changed along with the rest of Ford's lineup. Without taking weeks to study every Ford model ever produced over the last 50 years at several angles, check out some quick Google Image Search results for Ford models. You can spot Mustangs in each collection. Notice any similarities between the Mustangs of that year with the other Ford models? (This isn't as exact as I would like but given that it's Google Image search, I can't block out custom vehicles, renderings, etc. You get my point though).
Designing any car is tough but redesigning a classic like the Mustang has got to carry with it a ton of pressure. On one hand, it has to still be a Mustang. It has to have the long hood, the short deck, the pony in the forward-slanted grill, 3 bar taillights, with the engine in front and the drive wheels in the back. You have 50 years of heritage and muscle to carry on. (God Bless America!) On the other hand, you also have to compete with buyers who aren't just looking at Mustangs and Camaros but are also looking at more practical "sports" cars like the Volkwagen GTI, Toyoburu BRZ/FRS, Mazda MX-5, each of which are trying to bring performance and everyday practicality to the masses the same way Henry Ford wanted for the original Mustang. You can't just keep putting higher-power V8s in it and call it "the new" Mustang.
Designing something so retro and so modern all at once is no simple task. Go too modern and you alienate all of the old-guard Mustang fans (which is a big reason as to why the Mustang is one of the most popular cars in the world). Go too retro and you're not gaining many new buyers. Most of the people that have the money and the desire to own a Mustang do own one. Keep it the same and eventually you're just beating a dead-horse.
Other manufacturers go through the same thing, particularly motorcycle manufacturers like Harley Davidson. When they made the V-rod, a lot of the Milwaukee Faithful said it was terrible (It got mediocre reviews from testers as well, who weren't totally sure what Harley was going for). It was the first modern bike that Harley had produced in a long time and it was sort of a miss. HD has long stuck to it's bread and butter of making the best traditional cruiser, even to the point that so many other manufacturers all but flat-out copy Harley icons. (Don't believe me? Take a look at the Sportster next to the Star Bolt or Honda Shadow 750RS.) While Harleys are still as popular as ever, the average age of it's buyers has risen over the last 25 years. And think about it; How many young motorcycle buyers are looking at an air-cooled 45 degree V-twin making 60hp when they can get any sport bike and have 100+hp at half the weight? Probably none. Younger buyers want more.
I personally think that with all the pressure to have a retro inspired design while still keeping up with modern engineering and staying competitive on a global scale, this new Mustang nails it. Initial reactions from Facebook comments, Reddit comments and other websites, it seems the general public isn't happy with it. While simply not liking it is fine (how good something looks or doesn't look is completely subjective after all), I'm surprised at some of the comments I've read. Some people are saying it looks like a Dodge/Nissan/Camaro/etc. I personally don't see any of that. What I'm curious to hear about is how these people would change it.
What I do see are strong cues from past Mustang designs along with a lot of current design cues from Ford's current lineup of cars. Like I said earlier the headlights look very Fusion/Taurus inspired but that's expected. The grill looks very "new Ford" as well. The rear deck panel and new taillights look awesome and very retro while still being infused with modern technology. I can't wait to read the first real reviews of this new pony!
New Mustang Haters, did you expect Ford to just leave the 2013/2014 design alone forever and keep making frumpy hybrids? We've seen the new Edge, new Taurus, new Escape, new Fiesta, new Focus, new Fusion.... what were you expecting from the new Mustang? Seriously; Enlighten me. The Mustang has always had signature Mustang styling features but it's also changed along with the rest of Ford's lineup. Without taking weeks to study every Ford model ever produced over the last 50 years at several angles, check out some quick Google Image Search results for Ford models. You can spot Mustangs in each collection. Notice any similarities between the Mustangs of that year with the other Ford models? (This isn't as exact as I would like but given that it's Google Image search, I can't block out custom vehicles, renderings, etc. You get my point though).
These are Fords from 1974.
These are Fords from 1985.
These are Fords from 1991.
These are Fords from 1996.
These are Fords from 2002.
These are Fords from 2008.
These are Fords from 2012.
In a changing global market with an ever growing number of competitors, I think the new Mustang will still sell well.
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