World Record Mustang Meeting
September 10, 2019
Ford Media Center / September 9, 2019 / Cologne, Germany
(photo/video courtesy of Ford Motor Company)
Ford has set a new world record for the most Mustangs congregated in one location, but it wasn’t in Detroit or even anywhere in the US or even North America. It was in Belgium.
The company welcomed 1,326 cars from all over Europe at Ford’s European Proving Grounds in Lommel, Belgium. The gathering, which included examples of every Mustang generation since the model was introduced in 1964, broke the previous record of 960, set in December 2017 also not in the US, but at a Ford facility in Toluca, Mexico.
Belgium is the hot center for Ford Mustangs in Europe, “More Mustangs are sold in Belgium per head than any other country in Europe, making Ford’s Lommel Proving Ground the ideal location for the world record attempt. Now in its 55th year of production, Mustang was the world’s best-selling sports coupe for the fourth year in a row in 2018. Sales continued rising in the first half of 2019, which saw 5,500 sales in Europe, a 3.7 percent increase compared with the same period last year,” according to officials.
Ford’s Lommel Proving Ground is where the company refines the sustainability, technology, and driving dynamics of its vehicles in Europe. The facility covers an area of 3.22 km² and features 80 kilometers (50 miles) of track, some of which is designed to simulate public roads, while other tracks feature differing road surfaces enabling engineers to evaluate handling, braking, ride, and comfort.