Ford Mustang heading to Europe with potential for Australia

The next Mustang is due in 2015 and expected to be built in right-hand drive for this iteration.

Ford of Europe made the Mustang announcement as part of a Go Further event where the company outlined a number of new models and technologies it was introducing as it looks to bolster its sales in a European market that is experiencing tough times.

“You only have to look at the incredible response to Mustang when it has appeared this summer at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, in the UK, and at the Le Mans Classic, in France, to get a sense of the excitement this American icon generates across Europe,” said Stephen Odell, Ford of Europe’s chairman and CEO.

“The Mustang is uniquely Ford and has a huge fan base here in Europe. Now those fans have something to look forward to and we look forward to providing more details in the near future.”

A right-hand-drive Ford Mustang naturally provides a potential opportunity for the legendary ‘Pony car’ to be imported to Australia officially, and at a vastly cheaper cost than the RHD conversion kits available locally.

Ford Australia, however, would only say the Mustang had been confirmed for Europe only and wouldn’t comment on its prospects for Australia or whether Ford Australia was involved in development of the new model.

Quotes from Ford boss Alan Mulally at the 2010 Detroit motor show had encouraged rumours that the next-generation Mustang could share its rear-wheel-drive platform with a new Falcon large car.

That seems an even more unlikely scenario now, and the next Mustang is tipped to use a heavily modified version of the current model’s underpinnings – though crucially replacing today’s unsophisticated live rear axle with independent rear suspension.

American versions of the new Ford Mustang would certainly retain a V8 power choice, though in Europe the US muscle car can be expected to employ a selection of V6 and four-cylinder turbocharged ‘EcoBoost’ engines.

Ford used the Go Further event to reveal other imminent or upcoming models for Europe, including the facelifted Ford Fiesta, all-new Ford Mondeo medium car, next-generation Transit and two SUVs in the form of the Ford Edge and the smaller, Fiesta-based Ford EcoSport that is also coming to Australia.