AUTOS New Mustang drives Ford's revival hopes

The fifth generation of the classic goes on sale this fall.
DETROIT (AP) -- A look at Ford Motor Co.'s U.S. sales through March shows where the company needs help: Passenger car business was off by a big 13.2 percent from a year ago, compared with 2 percent overall.
Ford hopes to remedy its woes with the launch this year of several new or redesigned models, including a $140,000 high-end speedster called the GT and a new flagship sedan called the Five-Hundred.
But the most critical element of the revival is a model that turns the big "Four-Oh" this month -- the legendary Mustang.
"Ford is almost defined by how good the Mustang is," said Art Spinella, president of CNW Marketing Research in Bandon, Ore. "You've got the Explorer and F-150 on the truck side, the Mustang on the car side. It's their halo vehicle."
Like a beaming new father, chairman and chief executive Bill Ford Jr. unveiled the latest Mustang, the muscle car's fifth generation, in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. The new version is slated to go on sale this fall with a base price under $20,000.
Monthlong tribute
Ford will kick off a monthlong tribute to the classic car this week in New York, where the Mustang made its debut April 17, 1964, at the World's Fair. The automaker will throw a party Wednesday during media preview days at the New York International Auto Show, and will introduce a 440-horsepower Mustang racing concept called the GT-R.
Another, larger celebration featuring Mustang owners from around the country is scheduled for April 15-18 in Nashville, Tenn.
The Mustang has become one of the industry's best-known nameplates, not surprising when you consider the car has appeared more than 500 times on the silver screen. Perhaps its most memorable appearance was in the 1968 police drama "Bullitt," in which Steve McQueen raced a Mustang GT 390 through the streets of San Francisco.
All the hoopla aside, the Mustang looms large in Ford's effort to increase profits and stem declining market share. Ford, the second-largest U.S. automaker behind General Motors Corp., made $495 million in 2003 after losing $980 million in 2002 and more than $5 billion in 2001.
Important to Ford success
Some analysts have criticized the company for having a soft car lineup in recent years. The aging Mustang was the only one of Ford's six cars to post positive sales numbers in 2003 -- up 1.4 percent, according to Autodata Corp.
Hau Thai-Tang, Mustang's chief engineer, understands the car's importance to Ford's ongoing turnaround bid.
"I don't know that I feel as much pressure as excitement," he said. "This car's been around for 40 years. Eight million people have owned one. It's going to spearhead our 'Year of the Car' push. I think the greatest pressure for us collectively at Team Mustang is delivering on those expectations."
The new car's design has received accolades from analysts and Mustang enthusiasts for effectively marrying design cues from the 1960s with modern enhancements. The three-element taillights, for example, hark back four decades. But the new 4.6-liter, 300-horsepower engine has more than 50 percent more power than the V-8 in the '64 model.