It’s a bit early to tell if the redesigned 2015 Ford Mustang will win favor with consumers, but it’s already won over the automotive aftermarket.
For the third year in a row, the Mustang was named “Hottest Car” at annual SEMA show in Las Vegas, beating out its arch rival, the Chevrolet Camaro.
Officially known as the SEMA Award, the title goes to the vehicle with the most available aftermarket parts at the show. There’s no judging involved, official simply tally the number of parts displayed by the more than 2,500 vendors that attend SEMA.
Dozens of customized Mustangs were on display this year, while Ford itself unveiled a supercharger kit co-developed with tuner Roush and the King Cobra drag-racing package.
There are also categories for Hottest 4×4-SUV, and Hottest Sport Compact, and Hottest Truck. The Ford F-150 – also redesigned for 2015 – took home the honors in the latter category.
Both the Mustang and F-150 won in their respective categories last year, but the new models have been radically redesigned to include some controversial features, including downsized EcoBoost engines, standard independent rear suspension for the Mustang, and an aluminum body for the F-150.
Ford’s bigwigs must be feeling pretty good knowing that so much aftermarket support for these new models could be mustered so quickly, and that tuners approve of the updates.
While SEMA seemed to bleed blue this year, the Jeep Wrangler did manage to win the Hottest 4×4 award, while the redesigned 2015 Honda Fit was named Hottest Sport Compact.
