A Ford Mustang sedan has quickly gone from a weird rumor to a very real-looking possibility. Like the Bronco, the Mustang is now a “family” to Ford—one that can add new members, even if they’re persona non grata with traditionalists. A sedan is the logical next addition, and Ford already owns the perfect name for the Mustang four-door: Falcon.
A Mustang sedan was unthinkable until a few weeks ago when Ford CEO Jim Farley said such a car is possible, so long as the vibe is right. This would be more of a hypothetical if Ford hadn’t been spotted benchmarking a Mustang against a Cadillac CT4-V Blackwing, GM’s smaller sports sedan. Something feels like it’s afoot here, and Ford definitely isn’t ignorant of the American sports sedan-shaped hole in the market. A Mustang four-door could fill that role, and it has every reason to be called the Falcon—the Mustang Falcon.
Your reaction may be that of my editor-in-chief‘s, which was, “You can’t call it that, those are two different animals!” Well for starters, let’s not forget the Mustang was named not for a horse, but for a warbird, the P-51 Mustang. It may be a pony car now, but its namesake was closer to an F-16 in form. And as a matter of fact, the original Mustang could be described as something of a Fighting Falcon itself.
In design documents published years ago, Ford revealed that the Mustang was spun off from the Falcon as a stylish performance coupe to sell to young people, only for it to become something far greater. Though the Falcon faltered here in the United States, it carried on in Australia, where the Falcon would only reach its zenith decades later in the Supercars Championship. The Ford Falcon as a touring car racing icon is still a fresh memory, and invoking its name on a Mustang sedan would reunite the two legends’ legacies.
If that isn’t reason enough for you, consider how the cultural relevance of “Falcon” today compares to that of its potential future stablemate, the Mach 1. It hailed from the jet age, the era of higher and faster, of striving for outer space. Your average American wasn’t breaking the speed of sound, but our eyes were on the skies. Now they’re on the stars, the domain of both the fictive Millennium Falcon and SpaceX’s very real Falcon rockets. Nobody thinks of the bird when you bring those up, and if they do, remind them that a falcon is a bird of prey. A Raptor, if you will.
If you still aren’t convinced, then let the Mustang Falcon’s emblem be a chimera; an amalgam of the two animals. If decades of cartoonish names from Dodge are anything to go by, the goofier the better. After all, it’d be the Charger‘s shoes the Mustang sedan would fill. And if that isn’t enough for you? Screw you, Falcon is a cool name. That’s my final answer.
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