For half a century now, the Ford Mustang has defined the term ‘muscle car’. Several big, American, front-engined V8s tried to dethrone it as the quintessential muscle car, but none succeeded. The Mustang, in all its iterations has remained as much of a cinematic icon as it is an automotive one. Right from when Steve McQueen established himself as a driving god with his green, fastback Mustang in Bullit, to Nicholas Cage driving off a ramp in the gorgeous Shelby ‘Eleanor’ GT 500 Mustang in Gone in 60 Seconds – the Mustang never ceased to outshine her co-stars.

Why are we waxing lyrical about a classically styled, old-fashioned sports car? Because it has finally arrived in India. Although prices haven’t been announced yet, Ford has confirmed that it will be launching the sixth-gen Mustang in less than a week. Owing to legislation and a purchasing preference that favours small engines, the Mustang also gets a 2.2 litre Ecoboost turbo-petrol. Thankfully, that’s not the version we’ll be getting. That’s right, Ford will bring the big 5.0 litre 420 bhp ‘GT’ version with a six-speed auto-box. This is the first Mustang to be developed as a right-hand drive car for international markets and the India bound one will get a special performance pack as standard.