Ford Mustang Sales Are Getting An Unexpected Boost

Although muscle cars and SUVs are not as popular in Europe as they are in America, both segments continue to find buyers. Sales of the Ford Mustang and Explorer continue to increase in Europe and the automaker is currently taking advantage of solid exchange rates. Bloomberg reports that due to the Euro recently reaching historic highs against the dollar, Ford is expanding exports of the Michigan-built Mustang and Explorer to Europe. Next year, it'll begin exporting the Mustang Mach-E all-electric SUV.

"It's one of our pillars, and we do intend to build on it," said the president of Ford Europe, Stuart Rowley, about the automaker's import business. "It's going to be a niche business for us - it's relatively low volume - but I think it can be a very brand-enhancing and, importantly, profitable business."

Interestingly, Ford's import business has been doing quite well, in contrast to plans to dramatically restructure its European manufacturing operations by cutting over 10,000 jobs and closing six plants. The Mustang and Explorer may be somewhat niche models in Europe, but they're proving to be profitable enough to justify, unlike some of Ford's Euro-built vehicles.

But there's another key reason why the Mustang continues to do well in Europe: it can be had with the 5.0-liter V8 and the 2.3-liter EcoBoost four. The Chevy Camaro, sadly, can no longer be sold in Europe because its 6.2-liter small-block LT1 V8 does not meet the latest emissions requirements. The turbo-four model has never been officially sold there and a factory-built right-hand-drive Camaro doesn't exist.