Ford took over theSandton Convention Centre last week as 1 000 gathered dignitaries and industry stakeholders elbowed each other out the way with their iPads and smartphones, poised to record the first glimpse of the 2015 Ford Mustang as it eased very quietly from behind an electronically-controlled curtain into full view.

Other itemsshown off include the facelifted Ford Focus and thanks to lax Brazilian customs officials, the Ford Figo concept wasn’t able to make an appearance.

2015 Ford Mustang

The car that took the stage as the undoubted highlight of Ford’s “ Go Further” conference was a peachy red colour, and one of the first things you noticed about it was that it has modern, multi-faceted headlight lenses countersunk into the corners of the nose, rather than the retro-round lights of its predecessor. Yet, although the three-pillar tail lights remain a styling cue that’s from the very first ‘Stang, the 2015 Mustang is not about to trade too heavily on its 50-year history as one of the world’s most-loved cars.

Right-hand drive versions

With the announcement that the Mustang is for the first time to be available in right-hand-drive, this is one may say, the global debut of Mustang, as opposed to it being an American-market product that just happened to be exported in limited numbers to the UK and Europe and, even in small numbers, to South Africa.

European tech with American heart

That global focus on the 2015 Mustang means that it has an all new, independent rear suspension design and an up-rated front-strut layout to give it the kind of handling that Europeans are accustomed to. Mustang’s design team had to think autobahn rather than interstate, when giving it a chassis and suspension system that could cope with speeds of 250 km/h in Germany.

This means all the latest safety featureswill be part of the package when it goes on sale for in left-hand drive form in America and in Europe in around September 2014, and when it arrives here in right-hand-drive form in the first quarter of 2015.

At one point in the welcoming party for the Mustang, attended by media from all parts of the country on the Thursday evening, a Ford spokesperson alluded to the fact that this was a welcome-back party for the Mustang. That’s a moot point.

When the original 1965 Mustang was launched in America, Ford South Africa brought in about 80 left-hand-drive examples on a special import scheme. And in the ensuing years (before Left-hand drive imports were banned in the late ‘90s) it was possible to bring in a Mustang at quite considerable cost due to the 100% import duties imposed on cars not built in SA in that era. But essentially, the most iconic Ford has never been available here on a walk-into-a dealership basis.

Available on showroom floors in 2015

Now you’ll be able to do that, and enjoy all the spares back-up etc that you’d expect from a car listed by a manufacturer here. To place your order for the 2015 pony car, you will be able to specify either a 2.3 litre EcoBoost twin-scroll turbo four-cylinder engine, good for around 230 kW, or a five-litre naturally aspirated V8, punching out over 320 kW.

I suspect that initially at least, the bulk of sales are going to go the way of the V8, because although Mustangs since the beginning have been available with lesser engines (sixes in the mid-‘60s and even a wheezing four-cylinder in the fuel crises ‘70s) we have always associated Mustangs with V8 grunt.

Pricing will be aggessive

I mean, can you image Mustang Sally riding around with a four-cylinder exhaust note? Me neither. Prices are not yet specified, but when it was announced late last year, SA’s Ford CEO Jeff Nemeth told the writer that you “can rest assured that our pricing will be aggressive.” Which, I hope, means cheap. Okay, cheap-ish.