The Ford Mustang is a true icon of American automotive history and has been an affordable way for driving enthusiasts to experience a sports car for almost 57 years. That milestone actually arrives this Saturday, the 18th of April, and Ford is celebrating. The fact that the car has survived for so long considering that so many others have been discontinued over the years is impressive enough, but the Blue Oval isn't celebrating the sports car's survival this weekend. Rather, Ford is celebrating its dominance of the segment, with the Mustang claiming its second straight crown as the best-selling sports car and its sixth straight year as the best-selling sports coupe.

Ford says that these impressive results are led by a surge in sales of high-performance models like the recently discontinued Bullitt, the Shelby GT350 variants, and the six-figure Shelby GT500. In total, 2020 saw a total of 80,577 Mustangs sold, representing a 15.1 percent share of the sports coupe market, up from 14.8 percent the year before.

Hau Thai-Tang, chief product platform and operations officer at Ford, says, "In a challenging year for the entire auto industry because of the global pandemic, Mustang performed very well, increasing its share in the global sports car segment." Ford expects those figures to improve this year as it launches the limited edition Mach 1.

With regards to individual models, the Bullitt and Shelby offerings from Ford increased their sales in 2020 by a whopping 52.7 percent compared to the year before. As expected, the United States is once again the strongest market for the Mustang range, representing approximately 75 percent of global sales. Texas led the way with 8,600 vehicles sold, while California and Florida followed with 6,200 and 5,864 vehicles respectively. In Europe, sales increased in Hungary, the Netherlands, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Austria. Globally, the Mustang Mach-E has attracted more buyers than expected too, selling 6,614 units this year already. It's a wonderful success story for the model, but things could have been very different.