(DETROIT FREE PRESS) -- Unmistakably a Mustang but undeniably modern, the all-new 50th anniversary model of Ford's legendary pony car is graced with a low, wide and sinuous body and packed with advanced features.


"The Mustang is basically the heart of the Ford brand," Jacques Brent, Ford group marketing manager for large cars and SUVs, said Tuesday in the automaker's top secret Studio S, where the new Mustang was designed. "It's synonymous with Ford around the world."

While Ford developed the 2015 Mustang fastback and convertible with an eye on sales outside the U.S., the cars are intentionally, determinedly and proudly American.

There weren't any design clinics to determine what customers in Shanghai, Paris or Berlin wanted the new Mustang to look like. With 50 years of continuous production and more than 9 million cars sold, Ford engineers and designers know what a Mustang is at a nearly cellular level. U.S. sales begin in the fourth quarter of 2014, followed by China and Europe in 2015.