Ford keys on Mustang as other cars fade from showroom

Ford has stopped running national ads for the Fusion and Focus sedans it’s killing and has put more marketing muscle behind the Mustang, a decision that paid off with a 35 percent sales jump for the pony car last month.

“Those are the kind of things you’re able to do when you narrow the focus of your lineup,” Mark LaNeve, Ford’s vice president of U.S. marketing, sales and service, said in an interview. “It allows you to not only focus your product resources, but also to focus manpower, time, attention and marketing on your core lineup. And we think we’re getting a benefit from that.”

Ford will offer more variants of the Mustang, banking off the special Bullitt edition put out this year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Steve McQueen movie that featured a legendary chase scene. That model is in high demand, with customers willing to get on waiting lists, LaNeve said. The 480-horsepower fastback with a top speed of 163 mph starts at $47,495.

“How many more Bullitt ideas are out there?” LaNeve said. “Those kind of niche, buzz vehicles do a lot for the Ford brand and the Mustang brand.”

The Mustang is poised to be the lone passenger car to survive Ford culling its North American lineup to focus on more lucrative trucks, utilities and commercial vehicles. While CEO Jim Hackett has vowed a return to a 10 percent profit margin in the company’s most important region, he has yet say when Ford will get there.

Ford surprised analysts with a 4.1 percent August sales increase, driven by gains with the Mustang, F-Series trucks and sport utility vehicles, including a doubling of deliveries of the recently redesigned Lincoln Navigator. The strong results followed a sluggish July in which its older SUVs sagged and sent its total light-vehicle deliveries down 3.3 percent.