I love American cars. When all my school friends had posters of Lamborghini and Ferraris, my walls were covered from floor to ceiling with ‘vettes, Mustangs, Camaros and Firebirds. To me, big was beautiful. That wonderful feeling when playing Top Trumps when your Pontiac Firebird outstripped the Capacity cc of every other car. Hell yeah.
My fondness grew when my family moved from the UK to Indianapolis in 1987. I spent my teenage years in the States. My first rolls of camera were filled with pictures of muscle cars, that to Americans were everyday motors, but to me, they were my dream wheels.
So… fast forward to 2014. 20 years since my return to the UK. Ford announce, for the very first time, that the Mustang is coming to Europe. All 15 tonnes (exaggerated…) of it. Wow. Previously unnerved by idea of driving a left-hand drive car the width of a motorway, I could get my hands on a right-hand drive Mustang.
Forgetting about the extremely limited pre-order book of 500 Mustangs, at least there was a chance to dive into some true Americana nostalgia, correct? I brand that had bored the life out of me with their Focus, Fiestas, Kas and the like, were suddenly opening their arms to a whole new fanbase. We could all fall in love with Ford (again).
Drum roll….
The big day. 24th May. It coincided with my birthday. Talk about destiny. 1/2 way into the European Champions League final (an event Ford have invested heavily in over the years to promote … Transit vans), now, they were unveiling the Ford Mustang in preparation for the 2015 launch.
Oh….
Oh, how the irony of that headline statement relates to Ford’s launch of the Mustang.
WHERE IS THE STORY!?!?!?!
50 years it has taken for the Mustang to be officially launched in the UK. 50 years of the American dream unfolding behind the wheels of this all-American muscle car.
The Mustang has been introduced in a similar manner to what I’d expect Ford to use for the Ford Ka. Or the Fiesta. A website where I I’m left scrolling my mouse left-to-right to watch the soft-top fold and unfold atop the Mustang Convertible as the only form of entertainment . A website where the imagery displays a left-hand drive version of the Mustang. A website that wreaks of convention… a website that promises me:
I’d really hope so….
- I click on the Keep Me Informed button. It takes me to a form requesting my home address and nothing else. No sense of what I would receive. No setting of expectation. Nothing.
- Social media icons that, when clicked, provide the following template:
Seriously. What on earth is that? Ford, I ask you, where is the love? Where is the 50-years of heritage? Where is the embodiment of everything the Mustang represents, both in the US and to it’s global advocates?
I’m not a fan of Ford. I’m a fan of the Mustang.
Leveraged correctly, this campaign could have done amazing things for the Ford brand in the UK. Aside from the exceptionally limited volume of Mustangs available, this could reinvent the way Ford is seen. Suddenly, the range of identikit small, medium, large and XL Fords could welcome a rebellious big brother to their family.
Maybe there’s more concern for sales of the Jaguar (owned by Ford) in the US, than there is sales of the Mustang in the UK? Maybe they’re too focused (no-pun) on selling the story that you’ll feel like James Bond driving a F-Type rather than your Steve McQueen driving antics as you race through the roundabouts of Milton Keynes.
To me, this is a catastrophic missed opportunity to wrap story into the UK launch of an iconic (and let’s not forget this is a rarity in itself…) US motor. Maybe this is really ‘just the beginning’ as Ford lead us to believe. Somehow, I doubt it. Somehow, I think I may no longer care. Whether that’s owning a Ford Mustang, or not.
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