With the spring season upon much of the U.S., Ford Mustangs of all types are finding their way onto America’s roads. It’s a reminder of just how popular the original Pony car truly is.
That popularity is not limited to the U.S. though. For the last six years, the Mustang has been the best-selling sports coupe in the world — including 2020. Fans around the globe bought 80,577 ’Stangs last year.
The strong results came as a result of a surge in sales of high-performance Bullitt, Shelby GT350, Shelby GT350R and Shelby GT500 models, according to the most recent vehicle registration data from IHS Markit. That sales total represents 15.1% of the sports coupe market, up from 14.8% a year earlier.
Sales of the Bullitt and Shelby performance models were up substantially last year, rising 52.7%, the automaker reported.
Love for the ’Stang
“Mustang enthusiasts love their performance cars, and they showed that yet again,” said Hau Thai-Tang, chief product platform and operations officer, Ford Motor Co. “In a challenging year for the entire auto industry because of the global pandemic, Mustang performed very well, increasing its share in the global sports car segment.”
Although it is a global title, it comes as no surprise that the U.S. is the biggest market for the Mustang, accounting for about 75% of all sales. Also not a surprise that warm-weather markets are the top spots in the Mustang’s home market: Texas, California and Florida.
Outside the U.S., it appears Europe has a soft spot for the sports coupe as well, as several countries there posted impressive upticks in sales last year. According to Ford internal data, 2020 sales in Hungary were up 68.8% over 2019; sales in the Netherlands (38.5%), Denmark (12.5%), the Czech Republic (5.6%) and Austria (4%) all increased.
Pandemic impacts overall sales
Sales didn’t pop everywhere the Mustang is sold around world. China saw sales drop year over year. The country bought 3,011 vehicles in 2019; however, Mustang sales dropped to 2,414 units last year due to the pandemic.
While the world’s top seller, Mustang sales in the U.S. through the first quarter are down 4.4% from 18,069 units to 17,274. Sales of the Mustang were off 15.7% in 2020, falling to 61,090 units from 72,489 in 2019.
However, sales for 2021 have a few potential bright spots: the new Mach 1 and the all-electric Mach-E.
