American carmaker Ford on Tuesday introduced their iconic American ‘muscle car’ brand, the ‘Mustang’ in India. Available in ‘GT’ trim and equipped with a five-litre V8 engine, the Mustang GT has a power output of 400 horsepower yet it comes with four seats. It has been priced at `65 lakh ex-showroom Delhi.
Ford India’s Executive Director, Marketing and Sales, Anurag Mehrotra speaking to The Pioneer said that Ford India would initially take orders only in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai regions but expected the Mustang to be sold in twelve cities across India by the end of the year. “We have a comprehensive marketing plan in place and the Mustang will now be our flagship car. A 12-city car showcase is also starting soon where we will showcase the Mustang as well as our other cars.”
Mehrotra, however, did not expect massive sales for the Mustang, “This is a limited market, but we feel that the historical heritage and the sheer value-for-money that we feel the Mustang GT offers should appeal to buyers of German sportscars such as the Audi TT.” Mehrotra feels the immense sales success of the Mustang globally, 110,000 Mustang’s were sold in 2015 can be repeated in India. “We feel the combination of power, comfort and luxury would appeal to buyers”, he pointed out.
Unfortunately, the Mustang GT also highlights the high taxation on imported vehicles in India. The Mustang GT has a maximum retail price in the United States of $32,645, which works out to `21 lakh here. Despite taxes, the Mustang has a large mark-up in India, which is par for the course for most carmakers. Mehrotra ruled out the near-term possibility of a smaller engine option such as the 2.3-litre EcoBoost making it on to the Mustang in India any time soon.