The original Ford Mustang still holds the record for being the fastest selling car of all time. When the baby boomer’s pony car arrived in 1964, it went on to shift a monstrous 680,000 examples in its first full year on sale. Sure, iPhones and Yeezys sell faster, but this was the Sixties. And we’re talking about a whole car. Only on sale in the USA. It was a phenomenon.
And it still is. Not in such record numbers, but the latest generation of Mustang is shifting fast enough to retain its crown as the world’s best-selling sports coupe for the third year on the bounce.
A total of 125,809 Mustang coupes and soft-tops found homes across 146 countries in 2017 – clearly it takes Ford a little while to add these figures up. The UK in particular is lapping up Mustangs now we can enjoy them with right-hand drive: 6,000 British buyers have put their money where their mouth is since 2016.
Of the 35,000 ‘Stangs that’ve been sold in Europe since 2015, and the 13,100 that landed over this side of the Pond in 2017, Germany has been the biggest fan. 5,742 were sold in Germany in 2017. Sweden took 512, if you must know.
Outside of Europe, the US is still by far the biggest market, with two-thirds of production never leaving US shores. Meanwhile, Chinese sales are on the up. And worldwide, the most popular version is the GT hardtop with a 5.0-litre V8. Good.
Shortly, the restyled, safer, clever 2018 Mustang will be arriving in the UK. And ought to keep those sales numbers plump for a little while longer…
