Here's Why A ‘Four-Door Mustang’ Could Work... But Probably Wouldn't
When rumour emerged from a North American Ford dealer conference that there’s a ‘four-door Mustang’ in the pipeline, CT was as divided as oil and vinegar. What’s more, it’s said to be aiming squarely at cars that are normally way, way out of Ford’s price bracket. Is it a brave move that Ford needs to make, or is it doomed to fail before it has really even begun?
Why it could work...
As we’ve talked about before, the Mustang is a statement car. It has two doors, a long, pony car body style and isn’t a Porsche; and it’s that last point that is enough to persuade a lot of people. A Porsche may be very good but it’s the obvious choice, right? Not everyone wants that.
Mustang is a strong brand all over the world – why not use it? It makes sense from one perspective to leverage that existing penetration into cultures all over the world and create a new car that, without explanation, they’ll connect with.
Not everyone can deal with a two-door car for their lifestyle. A four-door Mustang would give Ford a way of tempting more buyers; buyers who want a Mustang but can’t buy one because a spouse and two kids say no. That’s not the only four-door-relevant market, either.
Business executives don’t necessarily need four of them, but four doors in a sleek, coupe body speaks of maturity and wealth. Think of the Porsche Panamera, the Maserati Quattroporte and the Audi A7. Using that strong badge identity Ford obviously believes that building a credible rival to these cars is possible.
For another thing, Ford has previous when it comes to building cool four-doors. The Galaxie, built from 1958 to 1974, is a retro legend. The Falcon saloon was a looker, too, taking inspiration from the Mustang towards the end of the 1960s. Ford’s recent decision to scrap everything but its SUVs and the Mustang in North America shows how seriously the company is taking its reinvention. Expanding the Mustang family with a premium four-door is, to Ford, a must.
...And why it wouldn’t
On the other hand Ford of America’s more recent record with four-door cars is pretty poor. The Fusion and Taurus clearly caught the public’s attention like tap water; even the clever hybrid version of the Fusion wasn’t enough to save it. Ford canned these models for a reason, and that reason was poor sales. Does it really make sense to try again so soon, and with vast investment at risk?
There’s also the question of what developing new Mustang-derived models will do to the Mustang image. The two-door has a clear presence in the market; a desirable car with no real direct rivals (in Europe) and lots of lovely heritage to call upon. Start meddling with the formula, creating four-door versions or SUV versions after the fashion of the Fiat 500 family, and you risk diluting the strength of the Mustang identity. You risk not only not making the new cars special at all, but also dragging the two-door Mustang down to mediocrity.
Finally there’s plenty of history of mainstream car makers trying to go toe-to-toe with makers from a class or two above. To the best of our knowledge it has only worked once, and that was the Jaguar E-Type. The likes of Ferrari were stunned by this British sports car that put their own efforts in the shade.
Hyundai tried to beat the Germans with its Genesis sub-brand. It failed. Vauxhall thought it could give the Audi A5 Cabriolet a kicking with its well-equipped Cascada convertible. That failed, too. Even Ford itself has been there: its own Vignale initiative has hardly made a ripple in the market, let alone waves. With all this knowledge to hand, why does Ford think it can just tackle the platform-sharing might of Porsche and Audi?
If it comes to fruition this is a brave move from Ford. The odds are stacked heavily against it working, even if the eventual four-door Mustang was actually brilliant. Badge identity in Europe is too heavily ingrained and executive or luxury car buyers here just wouldn’t choose a Ford over an Audi. Sad, but true.
We expect it would be heavily biased towards the North American market because there lies its only chance of mass market success. Chinese buyers are choosing SUVs in ever-greater numbers so it really would be all on the US and Canada. Will that be enough to make it successful, or profitable? Ford has some difficult numbers to crunch before committing.
Comments
“Ford canned the Fusion for a reason”
Me, a Fusion owner:
Honestly, what difference would there be between a 4-door mustang and a hot mondeo/fusion? The mondeo has an ideal image for the kind of car they’re after.
Its another Aston Martin rapide
I know many people have already been saying to just call it the Falcon, but at least do that here in America. Your average American knows almost nothing about cars. Seriously, I doubt the average American even knows that Chevy and Cadillac are the same company. This move would also keep the die hard Mustang fans happy because “It isn’t a Mustang, and the Falcon used to be just a worse Mustang”. It will probably keep your average Mustang buyer happy too because “It looks like a Mustang”. The only market you wouldn’t be able to satisfy is the market that wants a four door car but just wants to say they have a Mustang or just want the pretty prancing pony on the grill. It makes sense to call it Mustang worldwide where it has recognition (at least more than the Falcon in some parts), but here in America, it would alienate many Mustang fans. Besides, no one in America seems to care about what is happening in the rest of the world, most of us probably wouldn’t even notice if the four door version was called the Mustang everywhere but the 50 states.
i talked to my dad about this on a road trip recently he’s a baby boomer so he experinced the original mustang and pretty much everyone since and he said they’re crazy no one will buy a four door mustang
I dont know how you could say genesis is a failure, they’re still making cars and are getting better and better. In terms of the mustang if they dont do anything dumb with the styling or performance it think it would sell well.
A four door, V8 engined potentially manual car? I think, if done well, this might be absolutely brilliant. Probably wouldn’t sell that well, but i’d go for one (if it looked in any way similar to the rendering)
On its way to eventually become a Mustang SUV 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
I think it already exists.
It’s called the Explorer
The only was I think a four door mustang could work is if it resembled something like a Dodge Charger set up, a real four door muscle car. How the four door mustang will go wrong is if they try to lift it or put it on a explorer chassis (which they rumored) and that will for destroy the car. Last but not least is having a manual transmission version which will give it a huge advantage over its competitors, because cars like the charger are only available in a auto. If they do the four door mustang right then it will definitely be one of the cars I will have on my shopping list in the future.
Its still way better than the fking crossovers.
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