[JWagner]

I know, this is not a ford forum, but I thought this article was interesting. The photo of the new design looks not very appealing to me. But take a look at the sales numbers chart. They have experienced a really serious decline in sales in recent years. I had wrongly assumed that the pony was a pretty good seller in most years.

http://www.fool.com/investing/gener...y-2015-mustang-could-alienate-loyal-fans.aspx

 

[Tod74]

I sorta like it...wouldn't buy it though.Reminds me of a Mitsubishi eclipse. That look would appeal to the same types that like the imports.

 

[marcrose]

Remember ford had no competition from the Camaro or the challenger for a lot of years,sales had to suffer lately.

 

[Super470]

Remember ford had no competition from the Camaro or the challenger for a lot of years,sales had to suffer lately.

Yeah, and that huge decline also occurred when the economy tanked and all american car sales tanked with it. Notice it says mustang sales in the US. The new mustang is meant to be a global competitor (hence the 4 banger base engine). But if that's what the 2015 model looks like, they'd better count on European and Asian sales, looks like crap to me.

 

[Stokerboats]

Camaro sales have done well. BECAUSE they didn't go retro and can morph into whatever. Mustang had no where else to go but different.

 

[YankeeRodder]

It's gotta change, they had a home-run with the 95 version, now how do you come up with an encore? Check out the new Vette, sucky design in my opinion. cheezy taillights, funky Micheline man grill, crappy toyota style chinese slanted headlights. Go sell it in Japan. It's darn hard to always be ready with the perfect design. Same with the new Camaro, crappy taillights. This year is the best of all worlds.

 

[woody31]

If I was a F*** fan,,,and I am not,,,that would run me off for sure,,looks like a steaming pile of dog poo poo,,,

 

[Tod74]

I love the fifth gen camaros. There is not a corvette on the planet after 1967 that I care for. Flat out goofy looking. If we all liked the same things the world would be boring.

 

[cheveslakr]

looks far too small for a 6' 2" guy, let alone a passenger, dog and some camping gear.....oh well as long as 3 scrawny teenagers, 3 smartphones and some McD's can ride in comfort it'll meet it's mark.

 

[jpete]

It looks like an elephant sat on the hood of a current Mustang and those rear quarters are just plain horrid.

 

[VinceS427bb]

hate the look of the wheels and the retro look is too far off, not for me...

 

[novaderrik]

that "artist rendering" is probably not anywhere near what the car will actually look like.. someone saw those recent spy shots of the new Mustang driving around with the camo cover thing on it and drew the fugliest possible interpretation of what they thought it looked like under the wrapper to use for the article.

 

[Stokerboats]

that "artist rendering" is probably not anywhere near what the car will actually look like.. someone saw those recent spy shots of the new Mustang driving around with the camo cover thing on it and drew the fugliest possible interpretation of what they thought it looked like under the wrapper to use for the article.

I agree, just fish going by.

 

[Andy69]

Remember ford had no competition from the Camaro or the challenger for a lot of years,sales had to suffer lately.

Even when they HAD competition from the Camaro, they sold well - better than they do now.

This should be the final nail in the retro styling craze. It's evident the sales drop started after the novelty wore off the retro styled car. Everyone who wanted a Mustang that looked like an updated 60s car bought one when they first came out. Car guys love them, but the general car buying public obviously does not. Classic car people are a very small part of the market.

Also, the lack of a sophisticated suspension hurts the Mustang. For the longest time they were the only game in town when it came to powerful rear wheel drive front engine cars, but now car companies are coming out with their own versions of front engine rear drive - the FRS, Genesis, 370Z - all of which out handle the Mustang hands down. Ford has no choice but to change the design into something people want. Retro is cool but it has a very limited market appeal and that market has been saturated.

Also, the Mustang does not sell well overseas. The economic reality is they have got to have a car that DOES sell overseas, and a big heavy car that lumbers through the turns may be a, American car guy's dream but no one else in the world is really interested in that.

I think the new Mustang looks cool and if they finally give it a rear suspension that didn't come out of a tractor, I would seriously look at one.

 

[novaderrik]

which tractor has a 3 link with a panhard bar?

 

[Andy69]

which tractor has a 3 link with a panhard bar?

I dunno, John Deere maybe?

http://www.deere.com/en_US/ag/servi...e_link_suspension_greasing_6020_and_7020.html

 

[novaderrik]

Greasing the front Triple-Link Suspension

Ford has been fighting going to an independent rear setup because of the drag racers that don't like wheelhop and grassroots level Ford road racers that like solid axles.. also, it's probably cheaper to manufacture and has a lot less moving parts than an IRS does.. they've kept the ever reliable 8.8 solid axle around for about as long as they could, but they are about to put it out to pasture in favor of some flavor of independent rear suspension... maybe they'll keep the 8.8 center section like they did in the Thunderbird and Cobra Mustang IRS setups of the 90's..

 

[Chevelle_Nut]

With the gov't EPA requirements all of the muscle/retro cars will disappear. I don't like the looks of the new Mustang either but IMO Ford has better designed cars and trucks now than GM has.

The new Mustang is a repeat of the Mustang II mistake of the 70's, another EPA/OPEC inspired disaster.

 

[Andy69]

Ford has been fighting going to an independent rear setup because of the drag racers that don't like wheelhop and grassroots level Ford road racers that like solid axles.. also, it's probably cheaper to manufacture and has a lot less moving parts than an IRS does.. they've kept the ever reliable 8.8 solid axle around for about as long as they could, but they are about to put it out to pasture in favor of some flavor of independent rear suspension... maybe they'll keep the 8.8 center section like they did in the Thunderbird and Cobra Mustang IRS setups of the 90's..

Yeah I get that part. But again, the rest of the world does things differently. Big hulking solid axle top heavy rear drive cars just don't sell well in the rest of the world. Heck, you can't even get a Mustang in right hand drive.

I'd like to see them move the Mustang in the direction of a poor man's M3. Decent performance both in a straight line and in the curves, but without the snobbiness, high price, shoddy build quality, poor reliability and high repair costs of a typical German car.

They do have to be careful though, lest they end up the same way they did last time they tried to turn the Mustang into a global car. Not that the Probe was a bad car - I almost bought one and wish I had, the GT was a fun car to drive if a little under powered - but it was too radical a departure from the Mustang.

 

[jackie schmidt]

So, this is where the Guy that came up with the originol Prius landed.

GM hit a home run with there newest Camaro, it just looks good, retro or not.
The only big complaint is the weight, the darn things bump 4400 lbs wet.