Ford Mustang’s Emotional Design

NPR’s All Things Considered aired an interesting story about the emotional design aesthetic behind the redesigned 2005 Ford Mustang.

Ford's Special Vehicle Team Director, Hau Thai-Tang, went to great lengths to remain true to the iconic muscle car all the while tweaking elements to further seduce car buyers.

One such emotional design tweak involved tuning the exhaust system to match the growling and groaning of Steve McQueen’s ’68 Mustang in a famous car chase scene from the movie Bullitt. Hau Thai-Tang’s team accomplished this design asthetic by digitizing the soundtrack to Bullitt and essentially tuning the '05 Mustang’s exhaust system (much like one would tune an organ) to match McQueen's menacing-sounding '68 Mustang.

Click to listen to the 8 minute-long story. (Good stuff.)

Comments

[Nick]

I have to say - I like the new mustang design better than any of I have seen in the past 20 years or so.

[Richard McCain]

I am doing a research paper on The Success of The Ford Mustang. How can I find out the name of the female engineer that designed the 94 or third generation to be more accomadating to women?