Ford Mustang takes on Europe for first time

The Ford Mustang, the archetypal all-American muscle car, is about to plant its broad tyres on British soil.

According to Ford, the 2015 Mustang is "the fastest accelerating Ford coupé ever offered in Europe." The top-of-the-range V8 model, which boasts 415bhp, accelerates from 0 to 62mph in just 4.8 seconds, while the 313bhp 2.3-litre EcoBoost model hits the same speed in 5.8 seconds.

It will also undercut the price of many European rivals, with a starting price of £28,995.

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The Mustang has been in production for more than 50 years, and has appeared in countless TV shows, pop songs and movies – including, most recently, the Transformers film series. But Ford has never before sold it in Europe, Car Buyer reports.

Now, both the convertible and coupé models will now be available in right-hand drive for UK drivers. The European edition of the car will come with dual-zone climate control, LED tail lamps and 19-inch wheels as standard. Optional extras include parking assist and heated seats.

Production for both the right and left-hand drive models will begin in summer at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan, Auto Evolution reports, and will arrive on mainland Europe in July and in the UK in October.

So what do the critics think? Early reviews for the 2015 Mustang are fairly positive. Autocar praises the improvements that have been made to its ride and steering, as well as its "bargain" price, "but as always, if you're expecting the same as Europe’s best, you’ll come away disappointed," the site says.

Autocar likes its "positive and weighty" clutch, but most reviewers agree that weight of the car as a whole is a problem. The Mustang tips the scales at 1,720kg – about 130kg heavier than its immediate predecessor, and that extra weight compromises its fuel economy.

On a more positive note, big improvements have been made to the Mustang's automatic gearbox, Car and Driver says. According to Ford, the gearbox has been "redesigned and strengthened" and "whatever the company is doing, it’s working," the site says. The automatic drive works with "seamless efficiency" and the manual paddles are equally "pleasing".

For British drivers, the 2015 Ford Mustang is an "officially warranted, correct-hand-drive muscle coupe", says Autocar. And "while it isn’t without some compromises, few cars have all of its charms".

Strong sales for the new Ford Mustang

The 2015 model of the Mustang performed strongly in April, adding another 5,901 sales to the 7,234 the company sold in the US in March.

So far, the 2015 Mustang is selling 60 per cent better than its predecessor, motoring news website News Wheel reports.

The performance represents the best sales figures for the Mustang in almost a decade, Torque News says. The car comfortably outsold its nearest competitors, the Dodge Challenger and the Chevrolet Camaro – and "Mustang sales are likely to continue to improve as we get into the summer months", the site adds.

The Ford Mustang hasn’t outsold its General Motors rival, the Camaro, since 2009, says Bloomberg. The marked improvement in Mustang’s sales has been mirrored by a simultaneous drop in people looking to buy Camaros. Sales of General Motors’ offering between January and April have slumped by 15 per cent to 24,229.

The reason for the shift is partly the advent of smaller turbocharged engines which "threaten to send the V8 to the boneyard", Bloomberg says.

The Mustang, which now comes with a four-cylinder engine option, is popular with younger motorists because it offers both horsepower and fuel efficiency.

"The landscape is really changing," said Kevin Tynan, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst. "The younger car culture doesn’t need big V8s anymore. This is the way we’re going to make horsepower in the future."

Both Camaros and Mustangs have traditionally been popular among people in their twenties and thirties, but while older muscle car enthusiasts may not care about petrol costs, "the new 25-to-35 group is interested in something different," Tynan says: "more balanced performance, with fuel economy and an affordable price."

The Mustang also performed well in the UK, where more than 1,000 people have placed pre-orders for the new car, the Scottish Daily Record reports. At the current pace, Ford is on track to sell a worldwide total of more than 128,000 Mustangs in 2015.

Most of Ford's fleet has been in decline, with the Fusion and Focus both down on their performance last year. But the success of the Mustang and the Fiesta – which also saw a sales increase – are expected to help Ford to a "breakthrough year", Automotive News says.