Ford Mustang Almost Claimed “Imported From Detroit” Tagline

Sounds like Chrysler may have really lucked into locking down that “Imported from Detroit” tagline, which the company has gotten a whole lot of mileage out of when it comes to marketing its vehicles.

According to a recent Auto Blog report, at one point, the tagline was being considered as the sales pitch for the Ford Mustang. Evidently, before the famous Ford car even had a name, the carmaker’s marketing team pondered the idea of pitching it with the tag, “brand new import … from Detroit.”

The idea at the time was that the car would be sold as “inspired by Italy’s great road cars, but straight from Detroit,” according to research gathered from an author by the name of David Maraniss. But the sales pitch was axed when Henry Ford II decided he was going to marry an Italian woman after divorcing his first wife, an American.

The thought was that the Ford President’s new love interest might send the wrong kind of message with the campaign. So I guess you could say that Chrysler owes a lot of its recent marketing success to one of the failed marriages of Henry Ford II.

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Via [Auto Blog]