Where is the current Mustang assembled? Does it share the line with any other models, or is it a dedicated line?

I'm thinking that when the 5th gen arrives, it will certainly share a line, and many drivetrain components with other models. If the current Mustang doesn't share a line, are there plans for it to do so?

 

Current Mustang is made at Ford's Dearborn Michigan complex. It shares it's line with no other products, which is pretty risky today. Sales drop, you start laying off people, and it costs a bundle.

The next Mustang will be at Flat Rock, and will share plant space & a good portion of assembly line with other models.

 

The original 64-1/2 Mustang was assembled at the Rouge River facility in 1963 - assembly plant code "F", found in the 4th digit of the VIN. The Mustang shared that line with the Falcon and Fairlane. Within a month, the line was running over 70% Mustangs and was at capacity. The other lines were eventually relocated. In addition, Mustang production was started at Metuchen NJ (assembly plant code "T"), and in San Jose CA (plant code "R"). During 1966, Mustangs were coming off of all 3 separate lines as fast as they could be assembled. Ford also was assembling in Mexico for their consumption and export to South America. (Shelby even assembled some GT350's in Mexico too when things were jumping! ) When production came back down under @ 200k units/year, and the Mustang got a major body change for '71, Ford stopped producing Mustangs at the Metuchen and San Jose facilities - it all came back to Dearborn alone.

Mustang again began to share line space with the Cougar from '67 thru '73. Then for '74, the car went onto it's own platform, requiring specialized tooling. Though it shared body shapes, interior goodies, and line space with the Pinto and Maverick, it was unique from there down. Mustang then shared the Fox platform with many different cars from '79 up - notably the Fairmont, Futura, T-bird, Cougar, Capri, and a few other short-runners. It was in 1994 that it again went it's own way - getting a wholly unique platform called the SN95. From that point until today, the Mustang has shared it's platform with nothing else in Ford's lineup. The new Mustang will ride on the DEW98 platform shared by several cars now (like the Lincoln LS and T-bird) and will have many more new mates in the coming years like the Futura, Five-Hundred, and others.

Through it all, the Mustang has called the Rouge River Plant (aka Dearborn Assembly) home. It is kinda sad in a way and ironic in another that the first 40th anniversary Mustang that rolls off the Mazda line at Flat Rock will be the first Mustang NOT made in it's old home.

Useless but interesting tidbit for the day...
Speaking of designs and platforms... You all know John Coletti todays as the outspoken troublemaker running SVT for Ford, right? How many of you knew that HE was largely responsible for saving the Mustang from becomming the front-wheel-drive "Probe" in '89? YUP! John was key in supporting the Mustang's continued ponycar design of RWD, V8, manual tranny, and cheap pricing. He influenced the '91-'93 designs back in '89, and was very instrumental in the development of the SN95 models. He actually credited the SN95 as being a direct result of the failed conversion of the Mustang to the FWD-platform that was still developed and called the Probe. Ford knew the Mustang was getting dated, and slated it for renewal in '89. What actually ended up being the new Probe in MY89 was originally intended to be the new Mustang from the beginning. After Ford was convinced NOT to change the Mustang to FWD late in the design of the new FWD unit, they decided to go ahead with the new release under the new name "Probe", and redesign the Mustang again later. Coletti was assigned into the Mustang redesign project and helped pull off the SN95 project in a scant 18 months, getting the car out in MY94. So now you know why the Mustang stayed basically the same from '87 all the way to '93, and why Coletti is so keen on the Mustang's performance and reputation!

 

Flat Rock is the Auto Alliance plant, so the new stang will be build alongside the 3-series mazda, if I'm not mistaken. From what I read, that's supposed to greatly improve the quality of the new car.

 

Dead on history!

You are 100% Correct about John Coletti and the SN95 program. Ford CEO Don Peterson and his successor, Alex Trotman (sp?) were heavy Mustang fans, but just like GM, they had to rely & follow their product planning department & their accountants in actually running the company (who like GM till recently, were not really "car guys").

However, they were able to get continual improvements for Mustang throughout the 1980s in places where only engine builders and enthusiasts would actually notice, from forged internals to the switch to mod-friendly MAF sensors in later 5.0s.

Once the decision was made to name the new FWD Mustang, Probe (there were some pictures at the time with the Mustang name on the car) the official plan was to continue the Mustang till sales dropped enough to kill it off completely (as early as 1990!). That's why from 1987-'93 there were no design changes and short of MAF & the Crown Vic's air bag steering wheel bolted on (Ford didn't even set aside money for a tilt option!), no engineering changes.

It was Ford CEO Peterson who quietly and virtually off the record hand picked John Coletti to form a special group (skunkworks as it was called) to in his words "save the Mustang".

Some additional trivia: There was both a new Mustang & new Thunderbird introduced in 1979. By the time Mustang finally got a new body in 1994, the Thunderbird had gone through 4 body styles! 1979's "downsized "squarebird", 1983's "aerobird", the rebodied "aerobird in 1987, and finally the "cost is no object" world class engineered MN12 Thunderbird of 1989.

Ford spent so much on the MN12, and it's per-unit cost was so high, that Ford had to sell an extrodinary number of them annually to be profitable. When Thunderbird was discontinued after the 1997 model year, it was still outselling the Monte Carlo (as it did most all it's production years), but it wasn't making a decent profit. Monte Carlo's per unit cost was hugely lower because it was basically a Lumina then Impala, and it's costs were spread out into all the other "W" cars.