More muscle.  More motion.  More Mustang.  All of that comes standard on Ford’s 2010 Mustang – which reflects a new design inside and out.

Ford Motor tries to revive its classic Mustang muscle car with a makeover for the 2010 model year that debuts at this week's Los Angeles Auto Show.

 “The 2010 is a Mustang true to its bloodline, with impeccable proportions, honest shapes and beautiful surface language.  It executes the best of Mustang in a dramatic and modern way” said J Mays, group vice president of Design.

The Mustang design team, led by Chief Designer Doug Gaffka and Design Manager George Saridakis, referenced classic Mustang design cues and developed a thoroughly modern interpretation, giving more “muscle” to the iconic car.  The result is a more athletic-looking Mustang with continuous, flowing lines emanating from highly sculpted surfaces.

Ford Motor has sold 83,557 Mustangs in the US market in the first 10 months of the year, down 30 percent from 118,959 in the same period of 2007.

Ford also plans to use the show to unveil new versions of the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ, including Fusion and Milan models with hybrid gas-electric powertrains

210 Mustang Features
Each classic design element – the grille shape, the “hockey stick,’ the hop up into the rear haunch, the quarter-glass window, the three-bar tail lamp, the center-mounted gas cap – is modernized in a way that lends the new car even more presence and character.

The aggressive look is enhanced by larger grille openings flanked by slimmer headlamps, which now incorporate integrated turn indicators. 

The front end on all models is lower and appears wider with strong wheel arches pushing up and out of the muscular fenders.  Dynamic character lines emerging from above the grille sweep rearward into a more powerful, sculptural hood, further expressing Mustang’s potency.

The addition of lower front splitters adds to the sporting appearance but are also functional aerodynamic elements improving Mustang’s fuel economy, downforce and overall performance.  An athletic, sinewy design is emphasized by distinctive character lines that grow out of the main body, “as if the sheetmetal has been shrink-wrapped like a skin suit around the muscles and skeleton of the car’s understructure,” Saridakis said.

Echoing Mustangs of the past, the main side-character lines – the wind splitter and iconic hockey stick – return with contemporary execution.

The 2010 Mustang’s surface forms and linework, particularly the dropping fender line running into the belt-line kick-up and rear haunch, give the impression that the car squats down slightly in an aggressive stance that gives it the appearance of even more muscularity.

Another inherited and distinctly identifiable Mustang cue comes in the form of the tri-bar tail lamps.  The three individual red chambers, each lit sequentially by a single Luxion LED, are separated by two clear vertical back-up elements, ensuring the tri-bar look is recognized in lit or unlit conditions.  The sequential illumination of each chamber is a unique and important characteristic of the 2010 Mustang’s identity.