The automakers in Detroit had "begun to receive vibrations from the only source it really listens to - new-car buyers… The message: Build smaller cars" as customers stopped buying and the inventory of unsold new cars climbed during the summer of 1973, and there were already positive market expectations for the new downsized Mustang. The pony car market segment saw decreasing sales in the early-1970s "with many buyers turning to lower-priced, fuel-efficient compacts like Ford's own Ford Maverick – a huge first-year success itself." The Mustang was growing to become an intermediate-sized sedan, which " too big and alienated many in its customer base." The allure of the original Mustang was its trim size and concept. The first-generation Mustangs grew in size the 1973 model had become markedly larger than the original model. Named Motor Trend's 1974 Car of the Year and reaching over 1.1 million sales over four years of production, the Mustang II is noted simultaneously for both its marketing prescience and strong sales - while regarded by certain enthusiasts as having abandoned essential aspects of the Mustang heritage and in a retrospective after 40 years since its introduction described as embodying the Malaise era. The steering was improved from the previous generation by using a rack-and-pinion design. Ĥ90 pounds lighter and almost 19 inches shorter than the 1973 Mustang, the second generation was derived from the subcompact Pinto platform using a unique unibody with an isolated front suspension and engine mount subframe which the Pinto did not use while sharing a limited number of chassis and driveline components.
Introduced in September 1973 for model year 1974, the Mustang II arrived roughly coincident with the oil embargo of 1973 and subsequent fuel shortages. The second-generation Ford Mustang, marketed as the Ford Mustang II, is a two- or three-door, four passenger, front-engine/rear-drive pony car manufactured and marketed by Ford from 1973 to 1978.