The Ford Mustang nameplate turned 56 last week, which its maker considered an auspicious time to remind everyone it was the ‘world’s best-selling sports car’ in 2019, and the top-selling sports coupe for the fifth straight year.

    The Blue Oval cited new vehicle registration data from IHS Markit, which aggregates sales data from more than 80 countries. The data shows 102,090 Mustangs were sold during 2019.

    Sports cars usually decline in sales across their life cycle, and indeed the Mustang’s sales dropped from 113,066 in 2018, and 125,809 in 2017.

    By far the majority of Mustangs sold in 2019 found homes in the USA – 72,489 to be exact. But Ford sells this most global Mustang in 146 countries all up. It claims to have sold 9900 across Europe last year, growing sales in Germany by 33 per cent and almost doubling volume in France.

    It sold 1300 in the UK and 7600 in Canada.

    In Australia, the current Mustang has consistently been the most popular sports car since going on sale in 2016. Sales tallied 3968 units here last year, giving it a 51.5 per cent market share of all sports cars costing $80,000 or less. However, this sales figure was down 38.4 per cent over the 2018 total.

    Ford claims it “keeps up the Mustang momentum with the nameplate’s greatest-ever performance lineup”. Beyond the V8 GT and EcoBoost turbo-four in fastback and convertible bodies, there are two Performance Pack options, the Mustang Bullitt, Mustang Shelby GT350, Shelby GT350R, and Shelby GT500.

    In Australia, there’s also the Mustang R-Spec.

    “We’re proud of our growing Mustang stable and performance variants,” said Ford COO Jim Farley.

    “From Sweden to Shanghai, more and more driving enthusiasts are enjoying the feeling of freedom and the American open road in these new Mustangs. We are honored to serve our owners, enthusiasts and fans for 56 years and counting.”

    Mike Costello
    Mike Costello is a Senior Contributor at CarExpert.
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