I know that the discussion of 2005 Mustangs is getting very worn out & FAST, but I have a question for you guys... how long do you think they'll keep this body style? 94-98, 99-04, 05-??.
-Mike
-- A happy kid behind the wheel of a 98 Mustang GT Cold air intake FRPP 3.73 gears Steeda Tri-Ax Shifter Full Boar turbo mufflers Hi-speed fan switch
The salesman that I talked to this past weekend mentioned that Ford is going to hold the production of Mustangs down for 2-3 years in order to keep interest up longer. This might end up delaying the next facelift.
Define body style. There were several modifactions to the body between '94 and '98: wheels, scoops, valences, hoods, wings. The lines on the panels changed in '99 making is seem more dramatic. Similarly between '79 and '93 there were lots of style changes. Maybe we call these "tweaks"?
So, next year we will probably see some tweaks around the hood, trunk deck, scoops, etc. I'll wager in a couple years the grill and rear styling might get altered a tad, they seem ripe for that. When will they significantly alter the panel lines? Maybe 4 or five years out, maybe ten years out. That will depend on sales, demographcs, and marketing.
If I had to guess, I'd say the change in '99 was driven by a market dip combined with knowledge that the new platform design was underway but a few years off. Somebody decided interest needed to be stirred up with a change to the base style in order to stimulate the model line for the last few years of its life. 1998 was a good year but the prrior two years were a downward trend. The same thing happened in '93. But the second year after each major change (1995, 2000) were very good sales years (relatively). Heck, 2000 was the best year for the Mustang since 1989.
If this is true, then any major change in the '05 is probably really dependent on the sales. Ask this question again in two years after some sales data has been generated :). I'd predict that if the sales remain high with the current body we'd see a bunch of tweaks and no major alterations.
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