What maketh a Mustang?
I’m not really a car guy. Not anymore. Yes I grew up in Los Angeles, and loved cars then. But 24 years in New York can really shift your priorities.
And yet when I heard that Ford was debuting a new Mustang, I was intrigued. That was the car I always wanted as a kid (never had one). Especially in southern California, it was legendary. Especially especially in convertible, 5.0 liter, GT form. It was a bloated beast then (in 1990) but still it was a legend. An icon.
Cut to a few days ago. Like the rest of the car-fan world, I was surprised to learn that the next Ford Mustang will not be a car at all. It will be an electric SUV. 4 doors, 1 hatch, zero cylinders. What?!?
This makes sense from a business standpoint, as SUVs now make up around 50% of the vehicles sold in America. And electric is smart, and sustainable, and Tesla has proven there is a market.
But is it a Mustang?
I actually think that the people at Ford made a brilliant and bold branding maneuver.
They took their most storied model name (maybe the only one that people actually feel anything about anymore…anybody have a deep attachment to their Taurus?) and collided it with their most innovative and fresh engineering and design. There is tension, and emotion, and curiosity inherent in this mashup. Old and new. Foreign and familiar. A POV. An idea to rally behind (or to argue against). One word, so much meaning.
Sure, some purists will be offended. Outraged even! But its hard to imagine the auto press being this worked up if this new SUV was called a Ford Focus.
Bravo, Ford. Nice marketing.
