The Ford Mustang has been crowned the world’s best-selling sports coupe. Again. The Mustang has notched up its third-straight win…Australia biggest market outside the US.

THE FORD MUSTANG has proved to be a hit all around the world, becoming the best-selling sports coupe for the third-year running. As you’d expect, more than one-third of all Mustang sales are in the US (81,866 in 2017).

Global Mustang registrations in 2017 totalled 125,809 cars, according to Ford analysis of the most recent new light vehicle registration data from IHS Markit. This data – compiled from government and other sources and capturing 95 per cent of global new vehicle volumes in more than 80 countries – puts Mustang ahead of all other sports coupe competitors worldwide.

“The world is falling in love with Mustang,” says Erich Merkle, Ford sales analyst. “Mustang represents the best of American design, performance and freedom, with an unmistakable personality that’s appeals – regardless of your post code.”

Ford sold 13,100 Mustangs in Europe last year according to the company’s own data. The leading five European markets for Mustang sales in 2017 were Germany (5742), the U.K. (2211), France (942), Belgium (900), and Sweden (512).

Demand also remains particularly strong in China, where Mustang was the best-selling sports coupe last year based on 7125 registrations.

Since global exports began in 2015, through December 2017, Ford has sold 418,000 Mustangs around the world. The most popular configuration worldwide is the Mustang GT with the 5.0-litre V8.

Here in Australia, the Mustang notched up more than 7000 sales, making the Land Down Under not just the biggest right-hand drive market (for Mustang) in the world, but also the second largest market outside the US. In 2016, for instance, Australians purchased more than 6000 Mustangs and last year more than 9000 were snapped up.

The refreshed 2018 Ford Mustang will be out locally towards the end of this year.