How much do you think the Mustang brand identity is worth to Ford today? A hell of a lot, right? It’s a legit automotive icon, and the only non truck/crossover/SUV they’re still even willing to sell in America anymore, so you’d think it’s safe to say that the Mustang brand is considered a crown jewel of Ford. Incredibly, this hasn’t always been the case; in fact, at one time, Ford wasn’t even willing to pay the price of a top-spec F450 for it. I’ll explain.
When the Mustang was first released in 1965 (we’ll just leave that 1964 1/2 stuff to the real dorks) and they began to investigate exporting the car to Europe, they ran into a bit of a snag in Germany: the name Mustang was taken.
A company called Krupp had been building multipurpose utility trucks under the Mustang name for years, and held the German trademark to the name.
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