Ford schools dealers on high-tech 2015 Mustang

LOS ANGELES -- Put the 2015 Ford Mustang on the couch, and you discover a car with a three-way split personality.

The 5.0-liter GT with its rumbling V-8 engine cranking out 435 hp and 400 pounds-feet of torque appeals to die-hard Mustang traditionalists. Many of those loyalists, who have been waiting since planning began for the sixth-generation Mustang in 2009, have placed their orders.

The 3.7-liter base V-6 appeals to those who want a package starting at $24,425, including shipping.

Where the 2015 Mustang really gets interesting is the 2.3-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder version, which starts at $25,995, including shipping. With an automatic transmission, the EcoBoost version gets an EPA estimated 21 mpg city/32 highway/25 combined.

"The EcoBoost engine is a whole new proposition that we don't have today," Melanie Banker, Mustang marketing manager, said last week at the media launch here.

That's why Ford this month is concentrating on the 2.3-liter engine and other high-tech features in intensive training sessions designed to educate dealership salespeople to sell the most sophisticated Mustang they've ever seen.

Dealers and their staffs have a lot to learn about the pony car that in many ways might seem un-Mustang-like to purists. Features offered include adaptive cruise control, a blind spot warning system, MyFord Touch, a standard rearview camera, rain sensitive windshield wipers and a set of toggle switches to adjust the driving mode electronically. 

Banker said Ford is about 65 percent finished with dealership training sessions, which began in July. The training will be largely finished in October. 

At the same time Ford was unveiling the Mustang to journalists here, it was showing the car to dealers at the annual new-car preview show in Las Vegas. 

By mid-October, dealers will be getting significant volumes of Mustangs from Ford's Flat Rock, Mich., assembly plant, according to the company. 

Banker declined to reveal details about the advertising campaign except to say that the broadcast commercials would be mixed with a strong digital campaign, a regular feature in Ford advertising these days. 

"People look forward to Mustang advertising," she said. "It's usually pretty fun. We're selling dreams." 

Ford says this is the first time it has put a four-cylinder EcoBoost engine in a rear-wheel-drive car. Both the four- and eight-cylinder engines benefit from the new independent rear suspension, which replaces the live rear axle of the outgoing Mustang and gives the new car a more supple, composed ride. 

With the 2014 Mustang, the V-6 accounts for about 60 percent of sales and the V-8 makes up the rest. The four-cylinder engine is something of a wild card, Banker said. Ford expects the EcoBoost engine to take sales primarily from the V-6. 

Banker said early orders are tilting heavily toward traditionalists who want the V-8, but she believes sales of the V-6 and four-cylinder versions will pick up. 

The average age of Mustang customers is around 49 now. But Ford believes the new, sleeker design and EcoBoost engine will bring that average down, Banker said. 

The coupe version of the Mustang goes on sale next month, Banker said, and the convertible version goes on sale later in the fall at a $5,500 premium.