Right now, Ford is experiencing both the highs and the lows of the shrinking car segment. On the family ride side, its sales have long suffered the loss of the Fusion, Focus, and Fiesta. On the fun-ride side, the Ford Mustang is having a grand time.
It’s the benefit of being the last pony car standing.
Last Horse In The Pony Corral Is Finding More Buyers
2025 Ford Mustang Ecoboost mountain viewFord
The Ford Mustang launched its segment when it went on sale in 1964, and 60 years later it is once again the only one. Crosstown-rival Chevrolet killed the Camaro years back, and ever since Dodge moved the Charger to South Detroit (Canada), it’s too big and too controversial to be in the same breath as the Ford, even if some people insist on lumping the two-door in there as a competitor.
So sales are up, but they’re not even close to what you would have expected from the only game in town. Ford moved 3,657units of the Mustang last month, up 13% over the same month last year. Year to date, Ford has sold 35,778 Mustangs, 15% more than the first eight months of 2025.
Since the Mustang is the only car Ford sells in the US, Ford’s total car sales are also up. Meanwhile, truck sales are down 7% this year, and SUV sales fell 15%. More concerning might be Ford’s monthly SUV sales, which cratered nearly 25%.
Is Being The Last Pony Car Helping Mustang Sales?
2025 Ford Mustang Convertible Matte Clear FilmFord
How many sales has Ford captured from customers who would have bought a Challenger or Camaro? The figure might actually be a negative number.
In 2023, the last full year of Camaro and Challenger sales, Chevy moved 31,028 and Dodge sold 44,961 vehicles. Ford, that year, sold 53,159 Mustangs. This year, Ford probably won’t even hit that, after just 47,212 in 2024 and 45,333 in 2025.
The Ford Mustang was never going to return to the glory days of the 1960s, when it peaked at more than 607,000 sales in 1966. There were far fewer competitors back then of any type, and frankly, new cars weren’t as big a hit to family budgets as they are now. And Mustang was sold in a variety of flavors – it wasn’t strictly a foot-to-the-floor performance car.
2026 Ford Mustang Dark Horse SC frontFord
At least the Mustang is crushing the Mach-E now. After the two vehicles wearing the same name went back and forth for a few years, sales of the Mach-E have crashed. Ford sold 1,989 last month, down 72.5% from August 2025. For the full year, it is down 55% to 14,484 units. To be fair, EV sales this time last year were skyrocketing as people scrambled to make purchases before the tax credit went away. So the next couple of months will be tough for all electrics, not just the Mach-E.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse rear 3/4 angle while doing a burnoutFord
With a starting price of around $33,000 for a car with 315 horsepower, the Ford Mustang is still shockingly affordable. It’s not cheap, but that’s about the same price as a Honda Civic Si for a car that crushes it in performance, and arguably, style.
Is the market for affordable rear-drive cars simply drying up? Sales of the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT 86 aren’t exactly lighting up the charts, and neither is the Nissan Z.
Fortunately, Ford has a plan to boost Mustang sales, or at least sales of a car with a Mustang name attached. The automaker keeps trying to make a Mustang sedan happen, and recent reports say dealers have even been shown a Mustang sedan that could hit the road in 2028. Stay tuned for more.
