Ford will being selling right-hand drive Mustangs next year in selected markets.
Ford Motor Co. has been churning out Mustangs continuously for a half century half a century now. During that time, the fabled pony car has seen many changes ranging from body styles to engine offerings and even the ill-fated Mustang II.
However, the iconic machine will see a new first with the sixth-gen version: right-hand drive. Ford is finally catering to the demand for the pony car in foreign lands and will make the right-hand driver version available for sale in markets, such the United Kingdom, Japan and Thailand.
The Mustang goes on sale this fall in the U.S. and globally in more than 120 countries next year, including a total of 25 right-hand drive markets, such as Ireland, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia, South Africa and Kenya.
The right-hand-drive Ford Mustang will roll off a Ford assembly line when global production begins next year with the start of the global sales and exports from the Ford assembly plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, just south of Detroit.
The addition of a right-hand-drive version to Ford’s line-up, Ford executives said, bolsters the company’s push to make the Mustang a true global car and one of the company’s enduring symbols around the world.
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Ford engineers recently finished construction of the very first right-hand-drive Mustang. The prototype Mustang will be used to conduct various development tests in preparation for the car’s debut in global market during 2015.
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Since the car’s debut in 1964, more than 9.2 million Mustangs have been sold in the U.S. While America is overwhelmingly the largest market for Mustang, more than 161,000 Mustangs have been sold outside of North America during that time. In 2012 alone, more than 4,000 Mustangs were sold in 35 countries outside of North America, ranging from the United Arab Emirates to Chile.
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Bringing a right-hand-drive Mustang to market will allow more enthusiasts to experience the car than ever before and expand its appeal, Mark Fields, now Ford’s chief executive officer, said last December when Ford staged the world-wide debut for the Mustang.
The appeal for the classic is certainly evident as there are more than 100 Mustang fan clubs around the world, including several in right-hand-drive countries like Great Britain where, in the past individual conversions, have produced right-hand versions of the Mustang. The Mustang also was and was recently vote “Europe’s Most Wanted Classic Car” by AutoScout24, a German automotive website.