2009 and 2010 Mustang badges. Click image to enlarge

Dearborn, Michigan – Ford has released images of the new pony badge for the restyled 2010 Mustang, with a more defined and muscular appearance the company said “offers a clue” to the look of the new vehicle.

The new badges will come in tinted or black chrome versions.

“We wanted to give the Mustang pony a more realistic feel,” said Douglas Gaffka, chief designer for the 2010 Mustang. “We lifted the head to make the pony more proud, tipped the neck into the wind to give it a feeling of greater speed and better balance. It’s more chiseled and more defined, and looks more like a wild horse. It’s more realistic in terms of proportion to an actual Mustang.”

The original Mustang logo was drawn by Phil Clark for the car, which was revealed at the 1964 New York World’s Fair. It was refined for the Mustang II in 1974 and continued on the front grille through 1978, when it was replaced by “Ford” in block letters through 1982. The blue Ford oval was used on the front of Mustangs through 1993; the pony emblem returned in 1994 with some refinements and was updated again in 2005.