Mustang Design Incorporates Cues From Past in Modern Interpretation

LOS ANGELES – Designing a new Mustang is no easy task. While not the top-selling vehicle in Ford’s lineup, it’s arguably the most important, as few vehicles define an automaker as the iconic pony car does.

Chief designer Chris Svensson was well aware of the challenges he faced living up the high expectations set throughout the car’s 50-year run as he began work on the all-new ’15 model.

Rather than rely too heavily on the design of past Mustangs, Svensson says he set out to craft a vehicle that was modern, yet paid homage to the car’s illustrious past.

“We really wanted a modern car,” he tells WardsAuto during a Mustang media drive here. “We really didn’t want to do just a retro car, so we picked key elements that we felt were key to identifying the car as a Mustang and put them it into a contemporary modern wrapping.”

Drawing styling cues from every Mustang would be nearly impossible given the number of design changes made over the years. So, Svensson selected the ’65 and ’67 models, considered two of the most classic Mustang designs, from which to draw inspiration.

Of the styling cues borrowed from the past Mustangs, the silhouette is the most prominent. Svensson says designers sought to recreate the car’s classic profile, which he describes as a “long hood, raked screen and fast roofline that finishes with a tiny deck.”

Other elements include the strong trapezoidal front end and “nostrils” that adorned the ’65 and ’67 models, he says.

“You can see it has that prominent grille, a functional intake for cooling and angled back headlights that emulate the ’65 and’67 cars,” Svensson says.

Other parts of the Mustang’s design were influenced by the older models, but not literally. An example is the tri-bar LEDs embedded in the front fascia that are made to look like the inset depressions in the sheetmetal of the ’65 Mustang.

Another challenge facing Svensson and his team was designing a Mustang that would appeal to a global audience. The ’15-model pony car represents the first to be offered outside North America.

Svensson says consumer research groups were formed both in North America and abroad to weigh in on a new design direction. Each group was presented with several possible versions of the new Mustang’s design before the final iteration was chosen.

What Svensson found was that design tastes don’t vary as much around the world as they used to.

“Both in North America and in Europe, there was no contradiction between the two,” he says. “When we take cars out to consumers, we find there is more of a global understanding of design languages, and the nuances and tastes between different regions are becoming smaller and smaller.”

The ’15 Mustang rides on an all-new platform that allowed designers to further accentuate traditional styling cues. Svensson says the new architecture opened the door for a design that reflects the car’s improved driving dynamics.

“We had engineering and design teams that co-developed a car that has improvements in every area,” he says. “The improvements in aesthetics are way beyond what we have achieved previously with the Mustang.”

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