Having originally gone all dark on the open top version, Ford NZ’s had a change of mind.

LET there be light … having first decided there would be no place for a convertible in the new-generation Mustang offer for New Zealand, Ford here has become more open-minded.

The sunshine-friendly type has now been signed up and set to arrive next summer, following in the tracks of two hardtop coupes, all V8 engined.

Confirming it is reversing on its original determination to exclude the soft-top styling, a Mustang staple over the type’s seven generations, isn’t the only news for Stang fans today.

Ford NZ has also signalled that the first example of the ‘new’ (but more precisely, heavily facelifted ‘old’) Mustang - a 5.0-litre V8 GT Fastback coupe - is in the country.

The car will be publicly displayed at a V8 fan nirvana, next weekend’s ITM 400 NZ round of the V8 Supercar championship, at Taupo.

The display unit is a pre-production example similar to the NZ showroom stock, which is expected pre-Christmas, a Ford NZ spokesman said.

First of those will be the limited edition $114,990 automatic and $116,990 manual Dark Horse - which has already bolted, with the NZ allocation of 41 manuals and 97 autos all but sold out - and the GT Fastback, at $92,990 now $8000 more than the previous kind.

The convertible, meantime is an early 2025 availability, with orders now taken, assuming the$99,990 price is palatable. Again, it’s a big lift over the old, which was $84,990.

Announcement now times to Wednesday, April 17, being 60 years to the day when the Mustang nameplate enjoyed official introduction at the 1964 Worlds’ Fair in Chicago, though production of the landmark model had begun four weeks prior and the first sale, of a pre-production unit by error, was three days prior, in Canada.