My bad on the Mustang in the 80's. The wildly popular Mustang from earlier versions...I thought they had dropped the line as I don't remember seeing any (wasn't paying attention). I started noticing them again 90's and recently and thought that Ford was doing the right thing in design, marketing and advertising.
Thanks for your insightful analysis on their product line.
It seems like Ford, GM and Chrysler have brought so many products out over the years and dropped them. The Japanese automakers do not seem to introduce the continual variety of product lines only to abandon them a few years later.
Also it doesn't seem that long ago we had the big 3 competing for most of the market share of a nation of about 250 million people back then. The Japanese had 6 or 7 automakers competing in their nation of about 125 million people for their market. Competition in the Japanese market drove quality. (Competition always gives you the best possible product at the lowest possible cost) They took Deming's message to heart.
The last 15 years looking at quality in automotive parts, I've seen so many 5 and 6 sigma key characteristics of of Japanese parts while many domestic parts struggled to edge over 3 sigma on key characteristics. When you're constantly introducing new programs and managers are pressured to meet deadlines, surrogate data if often substituted for actual quality.
To be fair, the Mustang built off the old Fox platform almost doesn't count.... :)