History of the Ford Mustang

 

History of the Ford Mustang: In 1961, Lee Iacocca, Vice President and General Manager of Ford Division, had a vision. His vision was a car that would seat four people, have bucket seats, a floor mounted shifter, be no more than 180 inches long, weigh less than 2500 pounds, and sell for less than $2500.00. Out of this vision, the Ford Mustang was born. After many months of meetings, discussions and… market surveys, funding was finally approved for the Mustang in September of 1962. On March 9, 1964 the first Mustang rolled off of the assembly line. Only 18 months had elapsed since the Mustang had been approved for production. In order to keep production costs down, many of the Mustang’s components were borrowed from the Falcon, including most of the drivetrain. With a multitude of different interior, exterior, and drivetrain options, the Mustang would be able to be ordered as plain, or as fancy, as economical, or as fast, as the buyer wanted. In general, the Mustang was designed for everyone and was advertised as “the car to be designed by you”.

The Ford Mustang was heavily advertised during the latter part of it’s development. On April 16, 1964, the day before it’s release, Ford ran simultaneous commercials at 9:30pm on all three major television networks, ABC, NBC, and CBS. The following day, April 17, 1964, people “attacked” the Ford showrooms. Everyone was in a frenzy to be one of the first to own the Mustang. Ford sold over 22,000 Mustangs the first day. By the end of the year, Ford had sold 263,434. By the end of the Mustang’s first anniversary, April 17, 1965, Ford had sold 418,812 Mustangs. The Mustang had made a name for itself, and it was here to stay.

 

We love to hear our customers memories of their first Mustang, their favorite Mustang and their new Mustang. It just doesn’t get any better when you Ride The Pony.

The Ford Story

The Ford Story

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More evidence the 2010 Ford Taurus is going to rock!

Great News from USA Today, join the Fiesta Movement

Wow the 2010 Ford Fusion got a great review from USA today auto critic today, a very impressive report.  They told us at the franchise meeting that it would get the best fuel economy of any midsize hybrid, and that the drive was amazing.  http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/reviews/healey/2009-02-05-2010-ford-fusion-hybrid_N.htm

Something else I forgot to tell everyone about was the “Fiesta Movement” 

Ford is giving 100 Fiesta’s for people to drive for 6 months, basically free in an extended version of the popular “Swap my Ride” campaign.  These cars have been popular in Europe for years and we’re finally getting them in the US! Yay! You can go to http://fiestamovement.com/ and submit your application for an extended test drive of the fiesta.

More from NADA Convention

     Well I finally made it home from New Orleans after getting stuck in Chicago for the night and having my flight cancelled 3 times.   After digging my car out of long term parking for an hour and making it home to no power for 4 days, and having the stomach flu I’d almost forgotten about all the exciting things that happened while I was in New Orleans.  I’m back in the swing of things and wanted to tell you all the great news that was talked about in our Ford Lincoln Mercury franchise meeting.
     You already know how excited I am about the new 2010 Ford Taurus which is going to have the same starting price as the current model $25,995.   We also found out that the 2010 Lincoln MKS is going to have the Ecoboost engine available this summer giving it a whopping 355 hp and it will still get 25mpg! I thought that was pretty amazing, all that extra hp and no change in fuel economy. The 2010 model lineup will have Ecoboost engines available in 90% of the product line up.  Lincoln is going to have a new crossover vehicle called the MKT that will have active park assist that will rival the Lexus version.   The 2010 Mustang is going to be $1250 less than the Camaro, and the 2010 Fusion will start $1400 less than the Malibu and $1,000 less than the Accord.  The biggest news to report…. Ford will have the  most fuel efficient midsize sedan in the Fusion in the gas and hybrid models.  Since 77% of people that don’t buy a Ford say it’s because of fuel economy, now that we have the quality equal or better than Toyota and Honda for the last two years, the highest safety ratings of any manufacturer this year, and fuel economy there isn’t much else to talk about!  

     Well okay, there are some pretty awesome technologies coming out in Ford Lincoln Mercury vehicles this year.  If you haven’t heard about all the awesome things that Sync can do you’re already behind the times, but for those of you that are maybe just getting into the vehicle market – Sync is a new option available on Ford Lincoln Mercury vehicles that interacts with your bluetooth enabled phone via voice commands to make and receive calls.  You can also use Sync to stream music from your phone, voice activated navigation, 911 Assist, and more!  You don’t have a subscription service to Sync, it’s a one time factory option and it’s only $299!   In addition to the amazing technology Sync is offering our customers, we’re also going to have Blind Spot Monitoring, and Cross traffic monitoring these safety technologies will blow you away!  It’s a great time to be in the market for a Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury. 

     Of course I was excited about all the new product information, and the streamlined marketing and advertising that Ford is doing.  After getting to hear about all this I even got to meet the President and CEO of Ford Motor Company Alan Mulally.  He couldn’t have been nicer and more interested in what was going on in dealerships.  I applaud him and his executive team for their teamwork, synergy, and efforts that they have put forth to make Ford a really great product for dealers to sell!  Here’s to 2009 being a great year!

Annette Sykora NADA Chairman, George HW Bush, William J Clinton

I remembered what I said that made him laugh, I told him I was going to post the picture of us to my facebook profile, and he thought it was really funny because they were teasing one of the other execs during the panel about facebook!  It was really awesome meeting him though!

    One more thing – I got to see George HW Bush and Bill Clinton speak on Monday.  They talked about the importance of car dealers to their communities in providing civic support, jobs, and stabilization.  They also talked about their first car memories, told some funny jokes, and told some of their regrets about their presidencies.  It was enlightening to see them put so much faith in the turn around of the auto industry and how auto dealers play such and important role in the economy.   Now do your part and go buy a car!