Nearly 50 years after launching its affordable sports car, Ford has unveiled a global redesign of the Mustang to try to burnish its image and spur sales of its more expensive models.

This will be the first Mustang sold in Europe and Asia. The second-largest US automaker expects most sales to come from North America, but the car's mystique should prompt new consumers to visit Ford showrooms in other markets. 

The Mustang was redesigned to appeal to a global audience, in keeping with Mulally's effort to cut costs by building models that can be sold around the world with a few tweaks.

The new Mustang also features the trapezoid grill that lends a more premium look to the updated Fusion midsize sedan that was given a global redesign of its own last year.

It also has a new suspension system to improve handling and a lower, wider stance. Ford is offering a 2.3 litre turbocharged engine in the Mustang as well.

The original Mustang was introduced at the New York World's Fair on April 17, 1964, to national fanfare. It was featured on the covers of Time and Newsweek magazine and was purchased by more than half a million customers in 1965, its first full year on the market.

The Mustang was the inspiration for the R&B song "Mustang Sally," which was popular in the mid-1960s, and has been featured in Hollywood movies. Steve McQueen, for instance, famously drove a dark green Mustang in the 1968 film "Bullitt."