Make no mistake, the Mustang IS a very good looking car. But even with a good looking car, doing a retro design is a bit of a two edged sword IMO. The good side is instant recognizability, heritage, and all that. The down side might be too much familiarity and a sense of living in the past. Mini, Porche, Ferrari and many other have executed this delicate balance well, as has Ford with the Stang.

Often, the good and the bad qualities exist at the same time and perhaps that might be being evidenced in slipping Mustang sales, which are also probably due to a host of other factors too. It's a tricky design balance with retro designs to reflect a car's rich heritage on one side yet not go so far into the "haven't we seen that before."

I think it's important for Ford to do very quick updates to keep it fresh -- more so than an all new design -- and hopefully, Ford will do this well with the '09, especially with the competitive onslaught the Mustang will be facing since perhaps the early seventies (Pony Cars from all the Big Three).