Ford’s plan to take their all-new 2015 Mustang global is now official as the first production cars are boarding ships to Asian markets including China, Korea, and Japan. For the first time, customers in these countries will be able buy one at their local Ford dealerships as a mainstream model.
For decades the Ford Mustang was a car primarily sold in North America with exports only done in small amounts. The Mustang was often only available through grey-market importers or small program exports, where they were extremely rare and high priced.
By year’s end, customers in over 100 markets around the world will be able to not only shop for a variety of 2015 Ford Mustang models in their home country, but buy them with a full warranty and dealership service support just as they would a Fiesta or Focus.
Export models began production at the Flat Rock, Michigan assembly plant this week. Export models are virtually identical to those for North America, and will be built in both left and right-hand-drive for markets where required like Australia, Japan, the UK and South Africa.
For shipment to Asia Pacific, the 2015 Mustang boards rail cars at Flat Rock which take them on a cross-country journey to the West Coast ending at the Port of Portland where they undergo homologation for shipment.
Ford has a facility set up expressly for this process under the umbrella of Ford Trading Company. Here the cars are inspected and prepared for the trans-ocean shipment and given the proper documentation for the country where it is bound.
Undercoating is applied to prevent rust and corrosion from the dense salt air while in shipment and in cue at dock-side stowage lots. This temporary coating known as Cosmoline is semi-transparent and typically washed off when the car arrives and prepared for dealer delivery.
Cars then get a thorough wash down before having plastic sheeting applied to protect the paint from damage in shipment. It provides a hedge again from that noxious salt air but also from leaks and drips that sometimes happen on ships as well as scratching.
Before they roll onto the ship, final inspections are done to assure compliance to destination regulations and given documentation like window stickers, owners manuals, door stickers and other information which must be in proper language.
The 2015 Ford Mustang joins a growing collection of Ford and Lincoln vehicles that roll onto ships at the Port of Portland and others around the country for export to global markets. In fact, Ford exported more than 380,000 vehicles from the North America in 2013, making them the largest U.S. automotive exporter.
Later this year exports of the new 2015 Mustang will begin to Europe, the UK, and several other markets.
