Mustang to be launched as a seperate car brand?
 

The British press are saying that the next generation Mustang will be separated of the Ford car brand. Mustang will continue on its own..

Ford will launch the new Mustang in 2011. The Americans seem to want to give the new model a separate status, in which the name Mustang will be a new brand name, just like BMW did with Mini and Chevrolet did with Corvette. That means that the new model Mustang will have a whole bunch of other versions of that model. Ofcourse, there already are the coupe and the convertible, but rumours say that there will be a four-door saloon and a stationwagon or a shooting brake.

Ford would like Mustang to be a separate brand because of the massive success of the current model. The new brand will be firstly introduced in America and Australia but exporting to Europe hasn't been excluded.

Except Chevrolet has not seperated Corvette.. for the simple reason there is no seperate dealer network or way it could be profitable.

Mustang is a cheap car serviced by Ford.. I call BS on this bit of press, it makes zero business sense.

Additionally the MINI brand wasn't always owned by BMW, and was only kept secret because they wanted to keep some brand loyalty that could well have been lost if the MINI was perceived to no longer be of British lineage.

Nah don't think they will do it. Everybody knows it as a Ford Mustang, doesn't matter if you start it as an own brand under the name Mustang, it will always be related with Ford. Im saying BS just like RC :wink:

Well...I'm not entirely convinced it's fully BS. I have been hearing rumors from Ford insiders that the company is thinking about making a Mustang 4-door as well...seeing if they can cash in on the name a bit. I think it's a stupid idea, but stupid ideas happen.

I'm with RC. I'm not convinced it's a good business decision, and the Mustang is, well, a car, not a brand. It doesn't seem logical or likely.

I know people in the mustang design studio... no models of 4 doors as of yet.

And a four-door Mustang just wouldn't be a Mustang, would it?

Do they mean, that the Mustang won't have a Ford badge instead of it being a seperate company?

The Mini doesn't have a BMW badge and the vette is Chevy's only car without a Chevy badge on it.

It makes no sense to have a Mustang only company.

^Does the Mustang have a Ford badge? I thought it was just the horse.

I just checked my neighbor's stang parked outside and it doesn't have the traditional blue oval anywhere (not on steering wheel, either) but it does say "F O R D" wrapped around the circular badge on the trunk (boot?) that also says "GT" in the middle.

the only mustang news I've heard about is the new Bullit and Boss models being released along side the new Shelby GT.

Actually the latest piece on cnn says they are considering a 4 door. That being said anyone alive in the 80s remembers what happens when they tried to make the car fwd (probe anyone)... Time will tell.

More importantly will be who is going be foolish enough to become a "Mustang" dealer?

Mustang prices and distribution are as they are because it is a Ford platform sharing product that uses the existing distribution and support network...

So the best they could hope for would be a "Mustng" section at a Frod/Lincoln/Mercury dealership.

Witness how Jaguar has not even been able stand alone with a range of products and a fantastic heritage to boot.

My prediction is "will never happen".

Can't agree on that.. How about the ST cars? They're pretty cool to me!

And with the new design of the Mondeo, I think Ford cars are becoming even cooler, IMO

Seems that this wagon nonsense was just that- nonsense. Ford has officially said it was a false story- or was it? Did they actually consider it at one point, dropped the idea and somehow the story leaked? I remember the new Mustang that was re-named Probe at the last minute and the negative response it received in the pre-internet days. Could you imagine the flood of e-mails that they would receive in their Inbox? :D

I think the important thing with the Mini (to keep UK loyalty) is that it is built in the UK and provides jobs to the UK workforce :good: