A hit since it became available outside of North America, the Mustang is the reigning Sports Coupe sales leader for the third year in a row. That’s definitely the kind of news that you want to celebrate on the car’s 54th birthday.

The world is falling in love with Mustang. — Erich Merkle, Ford

In 2017, Ford racked up 125,809 global Mustang registrations according to IHS Markit research. Of those, 43,943 units were sold beyond its home continent. From 2015 through the end of 2017, the Mustang sold over 418,000 units all over the world, and the most popular configurations registered are Mustang GTs fitted with the vaunted Coyote 5.0-liter engine.

The Mustang was the top-selling sports coupe for the third year in a row with 2017 sales of nearly 126,000 units worldwide.

“The world is falling in love with Mustang,” Erich Merkle, Ford sales analyst, said. “Mustang represents the best of American design, performance and freedom, with an unmistakable personality that appeals — regardless of your post code.”

Along the way, the Mustang has grown in new markets, commanding strong sales of 7,125 units in China last year, and gaining in popularity with women by 10 percent over the past five years. Mustangs sold in 146 countries last year, so Ford definitely fulfilled the promise of delivering a global Mustang that it targeted with the S550 platform. With the addition of the 2018 Mustang, that momentum doesn’t seem to be slowing.