Next Mustang will get global design input

GENEVA--The Mustang may be a thoroughly American vehicle, but the design of the next-generation model will get input from Ford Motor design studios around the globe.

"It is a common process we use on every vehicle," Derrick Kuzak, Ford's group vice president for global product development, said last week at the Geneva auto show.

"When we embark on a new product, particularly one that is all-new, it involves all of the studios. Then J [Mays] and the design team pick the best of those themes," Kuzak said. Mays is Ford's global design chief.

Ford adopted the global design approach about three years ago.

Kuzak did not say when the redesigned Mustang is coming, but sources say it will debut in the 2014 or 2015 model year.

While the final styling theme might come from outside the United States, he said, Ford's Dearborn, Mich., studio will have the responsibility of turning that theme into a production vehicle.

Kuzak said the redesigned Ranger pickup--which will not be sold in the United States--is the latest example of cooperation by Ford's studios.

"The Ranger was done by the Australian studio with input from the European studio," Kuzak said during an interview at the show. The Ranger is the first global Ford vehicle designed by the Australian subsidiary.

The Ranger pickup will go on sale this year.

(Source: Automotive News)