The Ford Mustang has always had masculine undertones with its powerful V8 engines and aggressive fastback design, but in truth is that the original pony car owes much of its success to the fairer sex. Women bought the Mustang in droves, earning it the nickname of the “secretary’s car”, and even today high school parking lots are littered with teenage girls behind the wheel of Mustangs old and new.

Women are more tuned into cars than ever before, making most major car buying decisions, and according to Bloomberg they’re turning to the new Ford Mustang in droves, allowing the sixth-generation pony car to capture 36% of the American sports car market.

Mustang sales among women were up 40% compared to last year as well, with the four-cylinder EcoBoost engine attracting the most female attention. “Women like it because it is a practical choice,” Ford’s U.S. sales analyst Erich Merkle told Bloomberg. “It looks great, and it provides good performance and fuel efficiency.”

We’ve heard the Mustang called a lot of things, but practical? That seems a bit silly, perhaps even sexist if we’re being honest, as we know plenty of women who are attracted to the Mustang for the same reason as most men; it’s performance and it’s legacy. There’s only one Ford Mustang, and it has an appeal that knows no boundaries regardless of religion, gender, or nationality. Just ask any of the women of our Mustang Girl Monday series and they’ll tell you exactly why they love their pony cars.

That’s why Ford has finally taken it global, and why it should come as no surprise that women continue to be a driving force for Mustang sales.