DETROIT — The six generations of Mustangs introduced over the past six decades have often reflected Ford Motor Co.'s priorities and ambitions at the time.
The first pony car, for example, was aimed at attracting the coming wave of postwar baby boomers who wanted something more hip and exciting than their parents' sedans. The Mustang II was a smaller, fortuitously timed answer to the oil crisis of the 1970s. The current generation was the first to go global as Ford strove to be more competitive and profitable in overseas markets such as Europe and China.
The seventh-generation Mustang, debuting within weeks, is a product of a company that's reinventing itself. Ford is slashing jobs and reorganizing its work force to prioritize electric vehicles, which account for less than 3 percent of its U.S. sales so far this year.