We don’t have the final numbers for 2021 yet, but there’s a good chance the Ford Mustang would be crowned the world’s best-selling sports car, again. Sure, the all-electric Mustang Mach-E outsold it in June this year, but the gas-powered model was named the best-selling sports coupe for six years in a row. However, there’s one problem – the Mustang customers are getting older and Ford is aware of that trend.
In a recent interview, Ford Mustang marketing manager Jim Owens admitted the Mustang buyer is getting older, though the automaker is working on bringing this number down. He told MuscleCarsAndTrucks the sports car segment is shrinking as more and more people are buying more practical and efficient vehicles.
Gallery: 2022 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Heritage Edition
“The segment has shrunk over the years,” Owens told the online publication. “There’s a lot less size of the pie of people who are sports car intenders. So as that pie shrinks, what do you do? It’s more experiential. It’s getting them into the product to get them to feel what it does.”
But how is Ford going to lure in a younger customer base? The manufacturer will have to experiment, Owens admitted, because there’s no written recipe for that. However, the Mustang manager and his team have studied what the younger buyers are interested in and will try to offer them exactly that.
“A lot of [Mustang clubs] are show-and-shine, you come up, you park, you do your cars and coffee and hang out,” Owens explained. “What we found in the younger demographic is that it has to be more experiential. They want autocross, time attacks, test, and tunes.”
One way of promoting the Mustang to younger buyers is to hire celebrity drivers who show up at enthusiast events. In Ford’s case, these include Vaughn Gittin Jr., Hailie Deegan, and Joey Logano. Until recently, Ken Block also worked with the Blue oval but moved to a new challenge with Audi.
Source: MuscleCarsAndTrucks
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