The Ford Mustang is an American automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. It was originally based on the platform of the second generation North American Ford Falcon, a compact car.^[1] The original Ford Mustang I four-seater concept car had evolved into the 1963 Mustang II two-seater prototype, which Ford used to pretest how the public would take interest in the first production Mustang which was released as the 1964 1/2, with a slight variation on the front-end and a top that was 2.7 inches shorter than the 1963 Mustang II.^[2] Introduced early on April 17, 1964,^[3] and thus dubbed as a "1964½" model by Mustang fans, the 1965 Mustang was the automaker's most successful launch since the Model A.^[4] The Mustang has undergone several transformations to its current sixth generation.

The Mustang created the "pony car" class of American automobiles—sports-car like coupes with long hoods and short rear decks^[5]—and gave rise to competitors such as the Chevrolet Camaro,^[6] Pontiac Fire bird, AMC Javelin,^[7] Chrysler's revamped Plymouth Barracuda and the first generation Dodge Challenger.^[8] The Mustang is also credited for inspiring the designs of coupes such as the Toyota Celica and Ford Capri, which were imported to the United States.