#5. 1989 Ford Mustang Concept Car – Abandoning the Mustang Belief System!
Ford Probe: What the Concept Became – Source: Wikimedia
This car never got out of concept stage, so the reality is the concept car itself. Well, to be fair, this car did get out of concept, just not as the car they were intending to replace. Long live the Ford Probe!
What Ford Was Thinking
Front wheel drives were all the rage. The Mustang sales weren’t fantastic during this generation due to a fairly ugly vehicle. However, despite the appearance, it was still fairly fun to drive. Ford decided it needed to head off the front wheel drive sports coupes that were flying off the metaphorical shelves of their import competition. Their meeting had to go something like this:
Ford Exec 1: “Can we call it a Mustang when we are changing everything about it? Front wheel drive on a Mustang just seems wrong.”
Ford Exec 2: “Well, sure. We can call it whatever we want. People know the name Mustang and will buy it no matter how bad it is. That’s the whole point of building a brand.”
Ford Exec 1: “We could just make a new car and people will like that so long as we put the time and effort into making it good.”
Ford Exec 2: “What if we call it the “New Mustang”, then if people hate it, we can get rid of it and call it “Mustang Classic” and they will want it even more?”
Ford Exec 1: “Okay, that’s pretty brilliant. Did you just come up with that?”
Ford Exec 2: “…… Yes”
What the Public Thought About the Concept
Another Angle of the Probe that the Concept Car Became – Source: Shutterstock
When people looked at that 1989 Mustang concept car, flags were burning inside their heads. A beer that was once cold inexplicably became warm instantly. Apples in apple pie suddenly tasted like cherries. The car was just un-American! It was a front wheel drive flying disc that may have done better in a sci-fi movie.
Consumers were rather happy that this didn’t become the Mustang. It was created eventually and became the Ford Probe. The styling cues are so on point. The Probe developed a small but devoted following to the car who wanted a sporty front-wheel drive vehicle.
