Here's Why A ‘Four-Door Mustang’ Could Work... But Probably Wouldn't

It’s a controversial topic for any car-loving American, but there are two sides to the argument. Here are the arguments in favour of a four-door premium Mustang – and not
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...

Mustang: evocative, right?
Mustang: evocative, right?

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.

10 million Mustangs can't be wrong
10 million Mustangs can't be wrong

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.

Image: Wikimedia/order_242
Image: Wikimedia/order_242

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

Here's Why A ‘Four-Door Mustang’ Could Work... But Probably 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.

Here's Why A ‘Four-Door Mustang’ Could Work... But Probably Wouldn't

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?

Here's Why A ‘Four-Door Mustang’ Could Work... But Probably Wouldn't

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

Chewbacca_buddy (McLaren squad)(VW GTI Clubsport)(McLaren 60

Just want to point something out about why ford canceled all their cars except the Mustang, it was so that they could invest more into self driving technology (I forgot what the company was called) but Ford said they wanted to invest something like $11 billion and to do that they had to make some sacrifices. Similar to how GM had to kill Saab, Hummer, and Pontiac during the 2008 financial crisis

I think that it would be good if they didn’t call it a Mustang and instead called it a Falcoln

11/04/2018 - 11:58 |
70 | 0
Chewbacca_buddy (McLaren squad)(VW GTI Clubsport)(McLaren 60

In reply to by Chewbacca_budd…

Falcon*

11/04/2018 - 11:59 |
21 | 1

I also think the Falcon would be much more suited for this role.

11/05/2018 - 05:24 |
9 | 0

Or they are just not really selling that well. The already aging Fusion have hard time to compete with recently introduced new Camry/Accord and will likely be worse after Nissan introduce their new Altima. Pretty much the same story with Focus/Fiesta as well. Toyota is also working on self driving cars and you don’t see them stop selling Camrys and Corollas. US manufactures play this tactics way too many times, when the product is not performing as they expected, instead of trying to improve it and make it more competitive, they just pull the plug on it.

11/07/2018 - 04:05 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Seems strange to cancel all sedans, just to then introduce a possible four door version of the Mustang. If theres any chance for it, they would have to change the Name. Id buy it in a heartbeat, but using the mustang Name just seems wrong

11/04/2018 - 12:22 |
11 | 0
Wogmidget

I’d like to think that the new Falcon will be intentionally designed and marketed with a generous dollop of muscle car special sauce, so as to make it as interesting and un-businessman-like as possible

11/04/2018 - 12:28 |
6 | 0
TheMindGarage

As much as I’d love to see it, I don’t think it’d sell well. The closest car I can think of to a four-door Mustang is the Chevrolet SS, and that got discontinued because nobody bought it.

11/04/2018 - 12:28 |
29 | 0

Agreed. Keep to the 2 door sports cars. Time for a new Thunderbird to toe-to-toe with the Corvette. Top tier stangs will keep up with Vettes, sure, but the original Thunderbirds were also supposed to have a sniff of luxury to them which the Corvette keeps today.

So I reckon a Thunderbird would sell… maybe Lincon?

11/04/2018 - 12:51 |
7 | 1

Part of the problem with the SS was lack of any kind of marketing. I don’t know any non-car person who ever heard of one. Also they shoulda called it the Caprice

11/04/2018 - 13:15 |
6 | 0
RodriguezRacer456 (Aventador SV) (Lambo Squad)

In reply to by TheMindGarage

Well the reason nobody bought it was because whoever was in charge of it’s marketing were utter morons.

11/04/2018 - 13:51 |
16 | 0

Chevrolet didn’t advertise it tho. You can’t blame people for not buying them

11/04/2018 - 13:52 |
30 | 0

The Chevy SS is not as well known or flashy as a Mustang. For those reasons I would consider it unfair to compare it with a Mustang.

11/05/2018 - 16:12 |
0 | 0
prizrak

I don’t understand why Ford doesn’t take the Mustang chassis and use it to build Lincoln sedans and sport coupes. The name is already established in the luxury segment and having a sports sedan makes logical sense there.

11/04/2018 - 13:15 |
3 | 0
Ewan23 (The Scottish guy)

I’m ok with this, reason being most car makers will have an Estate version of there saloon car imagine how cool that would be

11/04/2018 - 13:35 |
2 | 0

American brands don’t make wagons anymore. Nor do people buy them here whenever they do.

11/05/2018 - 13:02 |
1 | 0
Aaron 7

Well back in the 90s ford wanted to make a fwd Mustang and soooo many people were turned off by the idea. Ford kept the mustang how it was and gave the new car a different name. (The probe). Long story short like the idea, but don’t call it a mustang.

11/04/2018 - 13:38 |
0 | 0
KodoMazda人馬一体

Clearly, the Fusion and Taurus failed because Ford never updated them when those generations came out. Their poor sales was due to the fact that there was no improvision onto them. They were only focusing on their SUVs and trucks from the start. If they were to make a four-door Mustang (which to me seems interesting but kills the point of what a Mustang is), they would need to keep it fresh through the coming years.

11/04/2018 - 13:52 |
0 | 0
Tomislav Celić

I mean the Kia Stinger was a success. Why wouldn’t a 4 door sedan with a Mustang engine be successful?

11/04/2018 - 13:53 |
19 | 0
Anonymous

People could also buy the Dodge Charger

11/04/2018 - 14:23 |
1 | 0

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