What is the best-selling sports coupe in the world? The Chevrolet Camaro? Dodge Challenger? BMW Z4 perhaps? Nope – that prestigious honour belongs to the Ford Mustang which just turned 55 years old. It made its debut at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and since 2015 it has been leaving its competitors in the dust by dominating the sales charts.

According to data from HIS Markit, the Blue Oval sold 113,066 units of the Mustang globally in 2018 (it is available for purchase in 146 countries) topping the bill for the fourth consecutive year and it isn’t hard to see the attraction. Jim Farley, Ford president, global markets explained part of the reason for the success of the model: “Nothing says freedom, the wind in your hair and the joy of driving like Mustang; it’s an icon. The roar of its V8 on a spring day, there’s nothing better. No wonder it’s the most popular sports coupe in the world.”

Since the sixth-generation model was launched in 2015 over 500,000 Mustangs have been sold worldwide and in the process the Pony Car has captured 15.4 percent of the sports coupe segment.

Well in its Fifties, it is middle aged now but there is clearly plenty of life left in the Mustang as Ford just unveiled the 2.3-L High Performance Package at the 2019 New York Auto Show. They have beefed up the base model by giving it 20 extra horses for a total of 350 along with a several suspension upgrades from the Mustang GT. The new variant also gets some visual tweaks including obligatory badging and stripes along with a blacked-out grille, quad exhausts, a black blade spoiler on the boot lid and it rides on 19in wheels.