All language subtitles for Supercar.Superbuild.S01E05.Ford.Mustang.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-RAWR_track4_[eng]

(car whooshing)

- [Narrator] The machine
ushers in a new automotive era,

the name becomes the
bestselling vehicle of its day.

For almost five decades,

it is brought to life across America.

- [Man] The Mustang is a very unique car.

There are very few nameplates
out there in the car world

that have survived a
decade, much less five.

(upbeat music)

(car engine roaring)
(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] It's a badge
that coins a simple phrase,

- It's America's pony car.

- The current generation
has been in production

for over a decade.

Technology has advanced,

competitors are ready to take its place.

(car engine roaring)
(upbeat music)

Ford needs a new machine.

- Mustang is Ford's halo product.

It is the product that shows everyone

what the team at Ford
is capable of building.

(car engine roaring)

- [Narrator] The rush is on to build

the most important Mustang ever.

A 50th anniversary machine
intended to go global

for the very first time.

- Anytime you're doing a new Mustang,

there's always a very big fear

that you're going to alienate people,

that you're gonna do something wrong.

- [Narrator] This is an inside look

as the clock ticks to
reinvent the Ford Mustang.

(car engine roaring)
(upbeat music)

(upbeat music)

(mellow music)

For over a hundred years,
the Ford Motor Company

has been building motorized
vehicles for the masses.

The story starts with the Model T,

the world's first affordable automobile,

then the F-150 pickup truck,

the best selling vehicle
in the United States

for the past 37 years.

And finally, the Mustang, the
world's very first pony car.

- The Mustang is such an iconic car.

It's so connected to people's
ideas of the country.

You know, our national pride.

- [Narrator] Introduced on
the 17th of April, 1964,

at the New York World's Fair.

The first generation Mustang

immediately captivates the audience.

- The history of the car itself

and what it meant to the country,

it really epitomizes this
sort of optimism of the 60s.

- [Narrator] The car
is an instant sensation

selling 22,000 units the very
first day it goes on sale.

A year and a half later,

the 1000000th machine rolls off the line

(camera clicking)

shattering sales records for the time.

- It was clearly the right
car for the right time,

or it would've never
sold in those numbers.

Today's bestselling cars
don't come close to the volume

that the Mustang had in its
first year, not even close.

- [Narrator] Over the past 50 years,

Ford sells just over 8 million Mustangs.

- This was a car that a
secretary could drive,

or an executive could drive,
or your mom could drive.

- [Narrator] But the fifth
generation of the machine

has been in production for nine years,

(tires screeching)

an eternity in the automotive world.

To keep customers coming
back to showroom floors,

Ford needs to rejuvenate the Stang.

- The Mustang is so tied to the company

that messing up that is just
as damaging in the public's eye

as screwing up a mainstream model.

- [Narrator] Not screwing up the legend

falls on the shoulders of
just one man, Dave Pericak.

- He's probably gonna
hit me for saying this,

but he's a little nuts.

Then there are just the
dudes who wanna build the car

that they wanted to have
when they were 25 years old

doing burnouts in front
of the police station

to drive everyone crazy, that's Dave.

- [Narrator] Pericak has
led Team Mustang since 2008

and is the fifth chief engineer
for the pony car platform.

- I think everybody waits for
the day that you get the call

to be the next guy for Mustang.

It was almost surreal.

It was almost something that I
didn't believe was happening,

but it was definitely a dream come true.

- [Narrator] A dream come
true that has a major deadline

and just 1,460 days to get it done.

- Knowing that the 50th
anniversary is coming up,

the planning started and so
I've been here since day one

on the planning of the Gen six Mustang.

- [Narrator] Lots of cars are filled......

as groundbreaking machines.

The sixth generation actually could be.

It's the first Stang planned
to be a global platform.

- We decided early on to take it global

as a dedication that we
were gonna make to the brand

and to the company, the
world's been ready for us.

They wanted Mustang for a long time.

The world is watching this car,

so just laying awake
at night and thinking,

"Did we get that right? Do
we need to do more of this?

Do we have to change this."

- [Narrator] Planning the new machine

starts with a single team meeting.

- The first meeting is
realizing what are the goals?

What are we trying to achieve with it?

I wanna make sure that
everything will be available

at the dealership before the cars arrive.

- Head designer Moray Callum is the man

who determines the look and
feel of the new machine.

- I think we all can sense pretty much

that we wanted to do a really special car.

We wanted to do something that
the people would recognize

and people would appreciate.

- [Narrator] He's not only
a custodian for the stang,

but a guardian for the brand.

- It's amazing how much interest
there was in the Mustang

in terms of where the design was going

and how it would evolved.

If you screw that up,
you screw the company up.

- [Narrator] With the 50th
anniversary celebration

less than four years away,

the design team doesn't have a lot of time

to nail the look of the new machine.

- Imagine if it made the
Mustang that everybody hated.

It's a lot of weight for
anybody dealing with a car

that's been around so long and
it means so much to people.

(mellow music)
(camera clicking)

(mellow music)

- Mustang is the brand builder for Ford.

This is the car that
enthusiasts think of first

when they think Ford.

- [Narrator] In the automotive world,

iconic machines rarely stray
from proven identities,

but Ford needs a striking new machine

to captivate younger car fans.

(engine roaring)

Yet the company can't mess up a formula

that's worked for 50 years.

- Mustangs had its periods
of being consistent

to its origins and then
it's sort drifted away

and come back again.

So then it has really adapted the time.

- There's really actually
a great deal of variation

over the years in what they've looked like

between the 60s, the
70s, the 80s especially,

and now the 90s and the 2000s.

- [Narrator] One of the
keys to the car's longevity

has been its ability to transform

alongside American culture.

Like a true democracy, the
Mustang morphs over time.

- You can kind of identify the decade,

the era by the Mustang.

It's changed with American culture.

(car whooshing)

- [Narrator] It's a culture
that continues to influence

the current Mustang design team.

- The good thing about Mustang is,

you don't need to write
a big long design brief.

You just tell the designers
go and sketch Mustangs

and they come back with some great ideas.

- [Narrator] Great ideas
often start in the past.

- We looked back in the history book

that really gave us a rich
heritage of design cues

really beginning with the face of Mustang

of what we call a Shark Bite Grille.

So you kinda get this
little play on heritage.

- Well, one of the things we
wanted to really do in this car

was bring back the true Fastback.

So we really have got a great

center line profile to the car.

- [Narrator] However, to
continue to be relevant,

the world's first pony
car needs to evolve.

(air whooshing)

(mellow music)

- We wanted to make a cleaner statement

and give the design a
little more timelessness.

- This is a car with a lot
of pent up lust for it,

and people want to know what
this mustang's gonna look like.

So quite frankly, you're damned if you do

and you're damned if you don't sometimes.

The studio is pretty tense in the air.

- [Narrator] That tension
comes from having to please

two different markets at the same time.

A year before the design process begins,

Ford conducts market research on attitudes

about Mustang around the world.

US customers want a tougher Stang.

(car whooshing)

While European consumers want
a smoother looking machine.

The solution comes down
to basic dimensions.

The team starts putting pen
to paper just over 1200 days

before the 50th anniversary deadline.

- We've really worked in the proportions.

We've pulled the A pillars
back, we made the hood longer.

We made the car wider,
enhancing the stance of the car.

- It really just helps to
give a very hunkered down,

assertive proportion.

(dramatic music)

So as we begin our design process,

we always iterate with
numerous design sketches.

This board shows the small fraction

of all the design work
that we've generated.

This was one of the first sketches

that really kind of captured the feel

of this very modern front end for Mustang.

(car whooshing)
(mellow music)

It really has this nice tapering quality

from the very strong muscular
shoulder over the rear wheel,

kind of really portray this
muscular quality in Mustang.

- [Narrator] The muscular
personality starts to come to life

thanks to a classic artistic medium.

- Well, the initial step is
getting the car down on paper.

So you talk to designers,
say "Sketch a mustang."

You got a lot of enthusiasm,

you got a lot of different ideas.

(indistinct)
Yeah.

Then we go into a scale model phase.

(mellow music)

We then do a range of scale models

and then these scale models
we'll eventually pick

two or three and go to full size clays.

(dramatic music)
(machine humming)

- [Narrator] The full scale
clay is no ordinary model.

It's handcrafted by a master modeler.

He will spend hours getting
a single line just right

and weeks working the
clay until it's perfect.

- Then eventually we'll pick the right car

for the next stage

and we'll build different types of models,

both the interior and
the exterior of that.

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] Once the clay is dry,

it's time to see how the
new machine bends light.

They use a reflective wrap
to quickly color the car.

- Then we go to various hard
models like this model here

and then in what we call an
inside outside model here,

and that's really the time
where the big money gets spent

and someone signs a check, says,

"Yeah, we're gonna go for it."

(car whooshing)

- [Narrator] Utilizing
classical artistic mediums,

it takes the team a year
to dial in the final shape.

But with just over 700 days left

before the 50th anniversary,

Team Mustang needs some cutting edge tech

to hit their deadline.

(dramatic music)

The pressure to finalize
the new 2015 Mustang

is mounting for Dave Pericak and his team.

Every second and every
computer chip cycle counts.

Deep inside the Ford Design
Center in a hidden area

there's a brave new world
being born one pixel at a time.

- We are in the virtual space

of the Ford Immersive vehicle environment.

Even though there looks
like there's nothing here,

there's actually a 2015
Mustang in this room.

(machine beeping)

- [Narrator] The high tech room

features motion tracking cameras

that connect to a 3D headset,

which can interact with a virtual world.

(dramatic music)

The 3D system allows Ford to
bring the new machine to life

before a single car is ever built.

- We're looking at the vehicle

in a bunch of different iterations.

It really brings that spreadsheet to life.

It goes way beyond just
looking at PowerPoints.

- [Narrator] The digital system
gives engineers the ability

to look inside a full size machine.

- We can cut this vehicle in half

and we can actually look at
the engineering structure.

There we go,

and I can actually look at
the engineering structure

with respect to the design.

- [Narrator] The structure might start

deep inside a computer
with ones and zeros,

but as the deadline to the
50th anniversary grows tighter,

the only number that matters

is the Stang's planned top speed.

An electronically limited
264 kilometers per hour.

While the virtual environment
lives on the bleeding edge,

the most important
advance for generation six

is actually a rather old technology.

(car whooshing)

- Early on, we talked about the fact

it was time to put an
independent rear suspension

in this car was something that we circled

and said "We have to do it."

- The Mustang's been a solid rear axle

for as long as anyone can remember,

pretty much since the day it was made.

(mellow music)

- [Narrator] A solid rear axle

is a dependent suspension
design where a set of wheels

is connected laterally by a single beam.

It's a time-tested engineering solution

that's cost effective
because of its simplicity.

- When you have a solid rear
axle, one wheel goes up,

the other one wants to go down,

which means the car
doesn't do well in bumps,

especially in corners.

- [Narrator] An
independent rear suspension

is a more complicated system

that allows each wheel on the same axle

to move freely from the other.

- All it means is that
the two wheels in the back

can move in different
directions at the same time.

One can go up without the other
one necessarily going down.

- [Narrator] Even considering the change

causes commotion in the Mustang community.

- In the World of Mustang,
there are two camps.

There is a solid rear axle camp

and an independent rear suspension camp.

(car tires screeching)

- [Narrator] In 1965,
the original Mustang team

intended to use an
independent rear suspension,

but accountants determined
that they could save

100 US dollars per car if they
chose a solid axle instead.

- To keep the price point
of that car where it was,

they were gonna have to
pull money out somewhere.

Having a solid rear axle has enabled

the Mustang to stay inexpensive.

- [Narrator] On the
track, the solid rear axle

helps the machine gain a
following on the drag strip.

Burnouts become a way of
life the pony car crowd,

but no matter how much rubber you burn,

time doesn't stand still.

Since then, the simple system

has become part of the car's ethos.

(car whooshing)

(upbeat music)

The Mustang is the last sports car

with a solid rear axle setup, until now.

- We really wanted to make
it a legitimate sports car

and we didn't want it to be
seen as a sort of neanderthal

sort of old time muscle car.

(car whooshing)

- The car can ride a lot better

and handle better at the same time.

(upbeat music)

The drawbacks are a big amount of weight

and a big amount of cost,

and for the longest time it
just wasn't worth doing that.

(car whooshing)
(upbeat music)

Having the Mustang now sold worldwide,

all of a sudden it needed to happen.

- Can be 50 years too late,
but it's the right thing.

(car whooshing)
(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] The decision to
modernize the rear suspension

on the Gen-six Mustang comes
down to a simple conversation

with one very important man.

- Mr. Ford.

Well, when we decide on
things like a new front end,

ultimately we have to go to Bill

because Bill's a part of
the board of directors.

- [Narrator] Bill is Bill Ford Jr.,

the executive chairman
of Ford Motor Company

and the great grandson of Henry Ford.

In the automotive world he's a rarity

because he's the last automotive scion

whose name is still on
the side of the building.

- Bill definitely gets involved.

He loves Mustangs, he
understands what this car means

to the company and what
it means to his family.

It makes my job a bit
easier when I go in there

and try to have a discussion
about a new suspension system

or a new front end, they support me.

- [Narrator] While the
independent suspension

helps get around the corner,

it also puts Team Mustang in a bind.

(dramatic music)

- As we put the rear suspension in,

we didn't have an intention

to change the front suspension at all.

(car whooshing)
(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)
(car whooshing)

The first time we took
the car out for a ride,

it was very obvious that
the rear was outperforming

the front and it was noticeable.

I mean it just wasn't gonna keep up.

- [Narrator] The 50th anniversary target

is less than two years away,
but it only takes Team Mustang

10 minutes to confirm their worst fears.

In order to get the new Stang right,

they need to hit the brakes hard.

- The bosses don't like to hear it.

If this car is important enough,

yeah, you can throw a stop in
the middle of the whole thing

and say, "We need to go back and fix this.

We haven't done it well enough."

- [Narrator] As the days pass

until the new Mustang's launch,

the engineering U-turn
causes drastic changes.

- We went back to the
drawing board and said,

"Okay, now we're doing
a new front suspension,"

and so the scope of the program

started getting pretty big at that point.

Before you knew it, it was
completely white sheet of paper.

"We're starting from scratch,
let's do this thing right."

- [Narrator] White paper
equals a clean sheet redesign

and a very difficult
conversation with the boss.

- It's very telling that
Dave was able to go back

to management and say,

"Okay, I put this independent rear in,

and all of a sudden the
front's just not good enough."

He told his chassis, guys,

"Listen, if this were
the last day on earth

and you had the old Mustang Boss 302,:

which was an amazing car,

"And the new Mustang to choose
from, which would it be?"

And he told them not to stop developing

until it was unequivocally the new car.

(tires screeching)
(car whooshing)

- [Narrator] As the scope
of the project increases

the days until the 50th
anniversary continue to count down,

and so does the team's funding.

- We still have (indistinct)...

There's not only hard conversations

on just how we're gonna to do it,

hard conversations around investments,

how are we gonna fund this?

Remember we had a birthday party to get to

and the birthday party wasn't moving.

- [Narrator] A birthday
celebration that's planned

for the top of the Empire State
Building in New York City.

(dramatic music)

The date is set, the plans are made,

and now every moment in between matters,

Team Mustang has just under 700 days

to bring their newest
pony car to the market.

Turning the next corner
will take a brand new engine

and a little bit of muscle.

(car engine roaring)

(mellow music)
(tires screeching)

(car whooshing)

The 50th anniversary of
the world's first pony car

is just a year and a half away.

In 1965, the original Stang

took 8.2 seconds to hit 60 miles an hour.

Dave Pericak and his team plan
to cut that number in half

with the new generation six machine.

But a launch off the line is
hard to see at the moment.

Team Mustang has just hit the reset button

on a clean sheet redesign.

While they struggle to solve
the new suspension problems,

other engineers tackle
more muscular concerns.

- One of the first key questions
that we had to deal with is

"What are we gonna do
with the powertrains?

What are we gonna do with the engines?"

- [Narrator] The original
Mustang's largest engine

made 210 horsepower.

Today that doesn't get the job done.

- We needed a engine lineup
that was gonna be more powerful

(car roaring)

and at the same time more fuel efficient.

So that was definitely on the radar.

- [Narrator] The team decides
on three power plants.

The first two are enhanced
versions of classic Ford engines.

A naturally aspirated 300 horsepower V-6.

And a flagship five liter V-8
that pumps out 435 horsepower.

- You know, there's this whole
sort of obsession about V8s.

Some people still have it,

but I think people now appreciate
you can get a lot of power

with the smaller engines.

- [Narrator] But the biggest
news is the smallest package.

A secret engine

designed at the Beech
Daily Technical Center.

(mellow music)

It's a rarely seen high-tech
laboratory for engines.

- We're always having the,

"I need more power" discussion, right?

Well, you can never have
too much power with Mustang.

(car whooshing)

- [Narrator] The Beech Daily facility

is a sophisticated complex

where engineers use sand casting

and rapid prototyping printers
to build one of a kind parts

for the new Mustang.

- Parts on this vehicle
that came through this lab

and development are a significant number

of the parts of this car.

- [Narrator] Almost every
single part on the new Stang

can be prototyped inside these walls.

(car whooshing)

- The rapid prototyping
has been a huge part

of making this machine come to life.

It helps us to get some
answers really quick.

- [Narrator] The process starts

deep inside another computer.

The data is sent to a 3D printer.

The system uses a UV laser

to harden liquid resin
one layer at a time.

- I always take parts
from a computer model

and we slice 'em up like a deck of cards,

and then we make them one
layer at a time (indistinct).

We build parts from this vat of resin.

It's kinda like syrup.

- [Narrator] That syrup is so expensive

that Ford keeps the
exact cost confidential.

While the money spent is obscure,

the time required to use
it is remarkably short.

- For the intake manifold,

it would take a day and a
half to build in this machine.

- [Narrator] A 15 centimeter tall part

takes up to 30 hours to build.

Once the accuracy of a part is verified,

it's time to build a more advanced

and robust prototype part.

This time for a running engine.

- This is called
selective laser centering.

- [Narrator] Next, the team uses

a high-tech 3D sand printer.

It's just like an inkjet printer

only instead of ink, it uses glue.

- This machine takes nylon powder,

very fine like talcum powder,

and it spreads a layer of that.

The machine will heat it up
and then a laser will come

and melt those particles together.

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] The printer grows components

one grain of sand at a time

and is accurate down to five
hundredths of a millimeter.

That's roughly six and a half times

the length of a single red blood cell.

But sand printing is no day at the beach.

Before you can touch the finished piece,

you have to dig it out.

- This is a breakout station.

We get to play archeologists
and dig our parts out.

(dramatic music)

You can print a (indistinct)
full of parts in about two days

so we can have a part back to you

in a matter of a couple of weeks.

In the old way,

it might have taken four
months to get a part.

- [Narrator] Just five years ago,

turning 3D car data into
a functioning engine

took up to six months now
it takes just 10 weeks.

And for Team Mustang, every week matters

as the 50th anniversary
deadline approaches.

- You build it, you test
it, you make sure it fits,

and then you go onto the next step.

- As you know, as we start
to develop the engines,

we will do some rapid prototyping.

You might have rapid prototype parts

right alongside production parts,

and then we will put it
through some testing.

So it might go out to our MPG.

- [Narrator] MPG stands for
the Michigan Proving Ground.

This is where new pony cars are
run for the very first time.

- To be honest, every manufacturer

has their own testing facility.

Ford's handling loop is pretty awesome.

- [Narrator] Inside of a top secret

16 square kilometer facility

that features over 160
kilometers of roads,

it's here where Team Mustang
tests new engine parts

in an early generation six prototype

on a unique high speed oval

capable of sustained 320
kilometer per hour speeds.

- You know, it'll do some durability runs

and they'll run it through its paces.

Then they'll bring it
back into Beech Daily

and they'll tear it down and they'll say,

"How did everything perform?"

- [Narrator] To test it,
the team puts one and a half

million kilometers on the new engine,

the equivalent to nearly 74
years of everyday driving.

Some is done very slowly,
(tires screeching)

some is done very smoky,
(tires screeching)

and some hits the edge of
the performance envelope.

During the machine's four
year development process,

engineers tear down over 120 engines

scientifically looking
at each and every piece

until the design is just right.

- If something in fact is not durable

or if it is falling a
bit short of our target,

then we'll go back and we'll
actually re-engineer it

and we'll go through almost
that whole process again.

(car roaring)

At the same time, they've got
me screaming at 'em saying,

"I need more power,"

so now they're trying
to engineer more power.

It just keeps going round and round.

- [Narrator] With just over a year

before the new machine's introduction,

the team continues to test
the engine on the track.

Meanwhile, new concerns emerge.

- You know, just because you go fast,

just because you are
having fun and driving,

we still want to make sure this
car is the safest possible.

- [Narrator] To make the Gen-six machine

the safest Mustang ever,

the team focuses on the
new US Roof Crush Standard.

The law mandates that all new machines

must hold over three times their weight

should a car flip over in an accident.

- [Man] We actually are going to achieve

four times the weight of the car.

- [Narrator] To exceed
the government standard,

Team Mustang uses a new
cutting edge technology

called Hydroforming to make
the machines roof rails.

(upbeat music)

The engineering team turns to Schuler,

a German company that first
started bending metal in 1839.

Today they produce a variety

of cutting edge stamping solutions.

(car whooshing)

- You wanna bring roof lines lower

and you wanna sleek things out.

You definitely have a bigger challenge

to meet things like roof crush.

Hydroforming is one way to
produce an extremely strong,

very efficient structure.

- [Narrator] Hydroforming is
an advanced way to press metal

into extremely lightweight
and structurally stiff pieces

using heavy weight and water.

- We start out with a round tube,

then it goes through a bending process.

So the next step would be to put this tube

into a hydroforming dye.

These here would be the
lower dye, the upper dyes.

Once the tool is completely closed,

that's when we bump up the water pressure

to over 20,000 PSI.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] 20,000 PSI
or pounds per square inch

is almost 500 times the
average car's tire pressure.

(water flowing)

- In order to form this part,

using the pressure that's in there,

that requires 3,200 tons of force.

So that force is like a thousand cars

stacked up on top of this
dye to hold it closed.

(metal rattling)

- When we take this part out of the dye,

it wants to go back to its original shape,

what we call as a spring back.

- [Narrator] The stamped tubes spring back

to their original shape
by up to five millimeters.

That's roughly 50 times the height

of a single strand of human hair.

It doesn't sound like much,
but with just over 365 days

until the machine's 50th anniversary,

the only thing that's more
exact is the margin of error

for Team Mustang's birthday celebration.

(car roaring)

(mellow music)

It's been nearly 1,400
days since Team Mustang

started planning the
sixth generation machine.

Now mass production is
just around the corner.

- So just an update on where
we are on the program, guys.

I think everybody knows that
we're heading into the TT build

for the convertible and the
PP build for the Fastback.

- [Narrator] A PP build

is a pre-prototype version of the machine.

A small batch of 100 cars to ensure

everything is going according to plan.

- My job is to make sure that
I'm keeping everybody focused

and on track.

See me in my office, we go
through all the details.

I wanna know what the team's
plan is to get to line 90.

Don't meet with me on Friday

to tell me why you can't get it done.

Meet with me on Friday to
tell me what you're doing

to get it done and what help you need.

I am a bit of a football
coach in a way, right?

I've gotta keep their morale up.

I've gotta make sure that
even in the hard times

that they understand why
we're doing what we're doing.

I just wanna make sure guys,

that we stay on top of that
testing that's completing

so that we don't get
ourselves into a bind.

That meeting is actually one
where we set the whole pace

for the program, where
are we at in the program?

What's coming up next?

What big decisions do we have to make?

- Timing.
No guys.

At the meeting gets a
little heated at times

or we'll call it energized.

- Not having the part on the bomb

doesn't help anybody right now.

- I don't wanna talk to engineers.

I don't wanna sit there
and go through the details.

I wanna ask why he
can't get the work done.

- [Narrator] The meetings can be tense.

A lot is on the line for Team
Mustang and the company too.

- If the new Mustang failed,
Dave would be out of a job.

- And I don't need to go
to an executive director

so that he can tell us
that we need to go faster.

- Those were the nasty
everyday three and a half,

four hour meetings in the studio

where we cycle team after team.

Let's start one at a time.

(indistinct) What are we waiting on?

- And when you have passion,

it doesn't just happen in one meeting,

it's all day long, right?

Yeah. Sometimes the the
passion is very prevalent.

Do me a favor, don't bring
this in my Friday discussion

because if it's in the Friday discussion,

it won't be a good discussion.

- Every part on this car has
been at least debated 10 times.

It's going to be a while
before the seat guys

and the wiring guys and
everybody get there.

There are several parts in this car

where we are running on the ragged edge.

I mean I should say word fought,

but we debated every half
a millimeter on this car

to make sure that we are optimizing

to the last half millimeter.

- [Narrator] While the
engineering team obsesses

over millimeters and
the pre-production team

focuses on prototypes,
the pressure is palpable.

- We really are spending a lot of time

in the prototype stage,
in the development stage,

but there's a lot of
pressure in the launch phase.

- [Narrator] Before the Mustang team

can start mass producing
the generation six machine,

(dramatic music)

they have to learn how to hand build it.

(machines grinding)

- The plant's got a big
responsibility in making sure

that we can build the unit
the way it's designed.

So we get involved very
early on with the design

to make sure it's manufacturing feasible.

And then we get involved
with what's called

VP Build, Virtual Production Build.

- [Narrator] The virtual
production build takes place

across the street from
the final assembly hall

inside a clandestine prototype building

that the public never gets to see

known only as the pilot plant.

- We have a team of product
specialists that get involved

with the VP build up at the pilot plant.

Now this is our build prove out facility.

This is where we first get an
opportunity to take the parts

and the process and get our
product specialists involved

with doing a static build of a vehicle.

- But we'll build a batch
of cars and then we'll stop

and we'll do some testing

and then we'll build another
batch and stop and test.

(machines grinding)

- [Narrator] The pilot
plant is a secure facility

where the pressure mounts for Team Mustang

one bolt at a time.

The perfect place to test
fit parts on the new Mustang.

(machines whirring)
(mellow music)

- If we can learn how to
build a vehicle statically,

then we can transfer that
knowledge onto the assembly line.

(mellow music)

So they're in there proving
out the production processes

and getting our hands on the parts

and the way the vehicle goes together

at a very, very early stage.

(mellow music)
(machines grinding)

- [Narrator] Everything is identical

to the final assembly hall,
except for one small detail.

The line never actually moves.

- [Man] You can see we've got a version

of each one of our conveyors

and we have all of our tools
right in this building,

so we can prove out the
process right in here

before we have to take
it to the assembly line.

(mellow music)
(machines grinding)

- [Narrator] After many
months of trial and error,

the pilot plant prototypes
are ready to hit the road.

It's time to take a trip

back to the Michigan Proving Grounds

where Team Mustang puts the new machine

through a variety of paces,

including testing a brand new feature

that's not available on any
other machine, line lock,

a factory enabled burnout control.

- Why not? Number one is
why wouldn't you do it?

- It's juvenile, it's
moronic, it's awesome.

And it's one of the reasons

why I love the Mustang's engineering team.

- [Narrator] The line lock
system lets weak weekend warriors

properly warm up their
tires at the drag strip.

(tires whirring)

Something that's not exactly condoned

by the machine's warranty,

but in a battle for pony car supremacy,

every new feature counts.

- Line lock serves zero
purpose at all for no reason

other than just to go
out and be a hooligan.

(tires whirring)

- Why is this the ultimate hooligan's car?

'Cause I think many of us,
we haven't left high school.

(tires whirring)

- Once they first started
putting big engines in them

they haven't looked back.

(tires whirring)

(mellow music)
(machine whirring)

- [Narrator] Today, that big
engine is the five liter V8

which cranks out 435 horsepower

and 400 foot pounds of torque.

(tires whirring)

The five liter Mustang launches

from zero to a hundred kilometers per hour

in just 4.5 seconds.

(car whooshing)

- The new Mustang is shockingly refined.

It can compete on the merits
of quietness and smoothness.

(car whooshing)

- [Narrator] But the ultimate surprise

is the all new EcoBoost
four cylinder engine.

- It was specifically
designed for Mustang.

You can get V8 type power in this case

with the four cylinder engine

and produce 33 miles per gallon.

The previous V8 was
cranking out 315 horse.

We're gonna be doing that
with a four cylinder now.

- [Narrator] The EcoBoost offers V8 power

with four cylinder fuel economy.

- Fuel economy is certainly
a bigger concern in Europe

than it is in the US,

and the Mustang possibly
couldn't be sold in Europe

without that Turbo four.

- [Narrator] But it's
the revamped suspension

that adds a new edge to the Mustang.

A system that at one
point stopped development.

- They've bitten the bullet,
they've spent the money

and designed an all new rear end

that really is going to make this car

that much more of a sports car.

(car whooshing)

It's really gonna unlock a
lot of potential in this car.

- [Narrator] The new
independent rear suspension

helps sling the Stang around
corners and down straightaways.

Punch the pedal to the floorboard

and the GT will hit an
electronically limited top speed

of 264 kilometers an hour.

It's taken over four years
of painstaking design,

engineering, and testing.

(car whooshing)

Team Mustang is ready to put the all new

generation six machine into production.

- Each build, we improve upon our training

and our processes.

Then we carry it all the
way up through MP one,

which is mass production.

(mellow music)

The orchestration of the
parts coming together

into the process at the right time,

that's the magic of manufacturing

'cause every part's produced

for a certain serial number of a vehicle.

So having those parts
arrive to the vehicle

at the right time just
takes a tremendous amount

of really good integrated
systems work to make that happen.

(mellow music)

- [Narrator] After more than
four years of hard work,

all of that magic comes together

on the 17th of April, 2014.

The very first mass produced
generation six Mustang

finally rolls off the line.

Just in time for the
machine's 50th anniversary,

a celebration planned for the top

of the Empire State Building,

where 50 years to the day Ford
introduced the 1965 Mustang.

It's a date Team Mustang couldn't miss

for the newest variant of a
car, coined the phrase pony car,

but today is no longer showcasing
merely American muscle.

Now it's a global high
performance competitor

and how it will be received

is up to car fans around the world.

- Say, what kept me up at
night was just making sure

that we did it the best
that it could be done.

But it's also something
that you never forget

that you're gonna get a
report card from everybody.

- The report card is from the whole world.

(dramatic music)