May and June have been good months for Ford in this little corner of the planet. They unveiled the Endura in Queenstown, the Ranger topped the registration standings once again (effectively doubling its lead rival, the Hilux, in the process), and just yesterday the Ranger Raptor was shown off to media in light of the news that almost half of their 2018 allotment has sold.
But sometimes you have to take the good with the bad, and the bad in this case is news just in about the Mustang's revised ANCAP safety rating score.
The Mustang's score was always going to improve from the dismal two stars it previously held, thanks to the refresh model's new barrage of safety tech — including autonomous emergency braking and lane-keep assist.
Off the back of those changes, the safety assist score improves from 16 per cent to 61 per cent, and the pedestrian protection rating improves too from 64 per cent to 78 per cent. But that still only leaves the Mustang with a three star ANCAP safety rating overall.
That's because this new model, despite its styling changes and new parts, is still based on the same architecture as the old one. And this is primarily something that concerns those who sit in the back seats.
"Structurally however, the revised Ford Mustang is identical to the Mustang we originally rated, meaning it still falls short of our expectations in the areas of Adult Occupant and Child Occupant Protection," says James Goodwin, ANCAP CEO.
"The inclusion of driver assistance aids such as AEB and lane keep assist is a definite step in the right direction, yet these upgrades have neglected to address the injury risk posed to rear seat occupants as well as whiplash protection."
Ford Australia has responded elsewhere via communications manager Jasmine Mobarek, saying that the 2018 Mustang is "a safe car". The brand have also pointed out the changes they've made to their restraint system — though it hasn't necessarily made an impact on the scoring outcome.
Though it isn't a good look for Ford, it's hard to ignore that plenty of people continue to buy the Mustang. This is particularly true over the ditch, where the sports car managed to outsell the new Holden ZB Commodore in May.