Ford Mustang Unveiled; to Be Launched in India

The 'Stang' arrives in India

The Ford Mustang will come with a 5–litre V8 engine.

 American car maker Ford on Thursday unveiled its ‘muscle car’ Mustang in India. It will go on sale in the second quarter of this year.

Currently in its sixth generation, Ford first launched the Mustang in 1964 and has since sold more than 90 lakh units.

“For the first time in 50 years, we have a right-hand drive Ford Mustang. It will go on sale in India in the second quarter of 2016,” Ford India managing director and president Nigel Harris said.

The car will come with a 5–litre V8 engine.

“The new Mustang is a modern interpretation of the American icon and we are thrilled to be giving our customers in India the opportunity to experience this piece of automotive history for the first time,” Mr. Harris said. 

How an Indian Indianised the all-American muscle Ford Mustang

Nigel Harris, the president and managing director of Ford India, Prakash Patel, the global program manager for Ford Mustang, Nick Eterovic, manager interior design strategy, Ford Asia Pacific, at the India launch of the iconic American muscle car Mustang in New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Thursday.

One autumn evening in 2009, four persons sat around a coffee table at Ford Motor’s office in Detroit debating what the new Mustang should be like. It would be the iconic sports car’s 50th anniversary edition. The meeting ended with a decision to build a right-hand drive version.

Surprised. The head of that meeting, Prakash Patel, the new product manager for the Mustang, is an Indian, and may be forgiven for having an affinity for having the steering on the right, as opposed to the left as Americans are accustomed to.

“When we talk about a global car, you cannot forget about the right-hand drive market, and once you do that there is not a bigger right-hand drive market than India,” said Patel, the first Indian product manager for muscle car.

However, India was not on Patel’s mind when the project planning started. The right-hand drive markets in his mind were UK and Australia, but as Patel and his team proceeded India started playing a wider role in Mustang’s future. This is also the first time an all-American car will be sold in India.

Patel elaborates that India has the most stringent regulations. It had to go through a water-wading test, where a car needs to be driven through four-and-half inches of water to see how good it would do in flooded conditions. The car should not stop. Changes were made in the engine bay, and have been implemented in all Mustangs. India also needed a different horn. “The horn is louder and is more durable --- the frequency of horn usage here is the highest in the world,” said Patel, who is a mechanical engineer from Gujarat University. The horns have been manufactured in Pune.

While studying the India market, Patel realised that India was high on low-speed front and rear collision. So, the Mustang now has a new fascia and rear bumpers to stay more protected.

The rear of the Ford Mustang is equally daunting. Even when stationary, the car leaves a hot trail.

But, why did Ford take five decades to come out with a more global car? “Because of right hand drive,” said Patel. So far, the Mustangs that were available were from the grey market. “People took it to the garage and flipped it to right-hand drive. Now the Indian government has certified the car,” he said.

To make the car suitable for the Indian market the Mustang had to undergo a whole host of packaging changes, including the turn indicator controls, which are on the right-hand side of the steering wheel. In the US and the UK it’s on the left.

The Mustang will be available in India from the second quarter of 2016 and is expected to start at around Rs 50 lakh.

This intimidating stance of the Ford Mustang was something India craved for over five decades to see in showrooms.

The iconic 

Ford Mustang GT 

has been unveiled in India today. At its pre- Auto Expo show, Ford confirmed that the American muscle car will begin to roll-out on Indian roads in the second quarter of 2016. Fulfilling the dream of many Indian automotive enthusiasts, the India-spec version of the Ford Mustang GT will take the CBU route to reach our shores and packs only the top-of-the-line 5.0-litre V8 engine. The car will be put on public display at the upcoming Auto Expo 

2016. Upon its launch, the Ford Mustang is expected to command a price tag of around

60 lakh.

Currently in its sixth generation, Ford first launched the Mustang back in 1964. With a name that signifies the wild and free-roaming horses of the American west, the Mustang's cult following superseded most of the iconic cars of its time and the name thus introduced the world to pony cars. While quite a few enthusiasts were able to import the car to India over the years, stricter norms and heavy import duties have now made it nearly impossible for folks in India to live their dream of owning a Ford Mustang. Today, after over 5 decades, all that has changed.

Coming to the car itself, the only major mechanical difference for the India-spec Ford Mustang compared to the American-spec model is that the car will be made available with a right-hand-drive (RHD) format. The RHD unit has been specially manufactured for UK and Indian markets and has been assembled in Ford's London facility.

Apart form that, the India-bound Ford Mustang retains most of its standard features like HID head-lamp units with LEDs, LED detailed tail-lamp clusters, dual-zone HVAC system, launch control, electronic line-lock, Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) with Cross-Traffic Alert, adaptive cruise control, drive mode selector, rain-sensing wipers, dual front airbags with additional curtain and knee-bags, and independent rear suspension to name a few.

As far as design goes, the India-spec Mustang comes with all the traits of a modern American pony car that we have come to adore. Features like the signature long hood, shortened rear deck, a galloping horse on the grille, the protruding nose, aggressive design for the head-lamps, muscular bumper, and 18-inch Magnetic Gloss painted/machined aluminium wheels that gives the car its mean muscle car looks.



As mentioned earlier, under the hood the new Ford Mustang GT will be offered with only one engine option - the 5.0-litre V8. The V8 develops a maximum of 435bhp along 524Nm of peak torque and comes mated to a 6-speed SelectShift automatic gearbox with steering-mounted paddle shifters.

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