4th month in a row of lackluster Mustang sales

[D.Hearne]

Oh, and I went thru Autotrader.com's site today, there's a couple pages of nice used GT's for sale there, in just a 200 mile radius of here ( south Louisiana) The posted prices are above what new MSRP's are. Go figure.

 

[bigcat]

Oh, and I went thru Autotrader.com's site today, there's a couple pages of nice used GT's for sale there, in just a 200 mile radius of here ( south Louisiana) The posted prices are above what new MSRP's are. Go figure.

they have to get that negative equity out of it somehow.....

 

[D.Hearne]

they have to get that negative equity out of it somehow.....

What negative equity? That part's born by the original buyer. The price they're asking for a used car is way out of proportion to new ones. That's greed, pure and simple.

 

[351CJ]

I went along with my friend to help her look at cars. She would be driving a brand new v6 mustang right now if it had a better interior. Compared to the other cars we drove, she found it fun to drive, maybe a bit big for her, but the interior was way behind those of other cars we drove in it's price range (Mistubishi Eclipse, Acura RSX, Hyundai Tiburon)..........

Excellent comments Shaggydog.

I agree with you, I think the plastic on most of the new Mustang's interior is totally unacceptable. Very hard & cheap looking. I seems to scratch far too easily.

Like most of us here, I'm a Mustang die hard and will eventually be getting one so I'll be putting up with the crapola interior. I imagine that the same as you and your friend felt, the interior look and feel comes off cheap compared to the Asian brand competition and ends up turning off a lot of potential customers.

I really don't know what in the world Ford was thinking when they selected the interior materials on the 05 Mustang. And this was after all the hoopla Ford made in the press about how much $$ they were investing in interiors.

You made another very insightful comment, that is the large size of the new Mustang. I'm now seeing a number of 05/06 Stangs on the road and they look huge. The S197 Stang is the longest, widest & heaviest Mustang ever except for the 1971-1973 Stangs, which were a sales flop mostly due to their large size & heavy weight for their interior room. I'd guess the large size and look are a turn off to many potential customers.

 

[bigcat]

What negative equity? That part's born by the original buyer. The price they're asking for a used car is way out of proportion to new ones. That's greed, pure and simple.

you didnt say it was a dealer, i thought it was private parties......

 

[ANGELMAV]

In my view all comments about the size/interior aside there are only two things hurting mustang sales. Price and availability. There simply have never been enough GT's in the pipeline, most people will not order a car when they are in the market for a new car, they are ready to drive home with something/anything and will likely go elsewhere. Considering the desirability of the GT and its unavailability wheres the mystery their. Now you add to that the fact many dealers are marking them up or adding a bunch of high priced dealer options and your practically telling buyers to go elsewhere, especially in a car buying climate where deals/sales abound. Having a loaded to the gills v6 priced around 25,000 with no incentives as the only option on the lot isnt going to entice alot of buyers.

 

[1200bruce]

For me it's No cars in the lot to drive and the markup. I like driving my future car and our dealer doesn't even know when he'll have a coupe with a stick to test out. They well offer it at MSRP, but I'll holding out that a ford dealer around here well come through next year with "X" amount over invoice through Costco,that is usually $100-400 that I've seen in past years!

 

[timeless2]

It's called "winter".

 

[shadowland2000]

In the hunt for keeping costs down, sometimes they just don't make the right calls. The interior materials are an obvious way to impress the car buyer. Being cheap in this area is just plain stupid. I mean, it just wouldn't cost that much more to put some nice plastics in there. Maybe by 2007 they will make some improvements here.

 

[351CJ]

It's called "winter".

Since when did July, August, September & October become winter months?

 

[Boglin]

I say good. Hope sales continue to drop. Less of them out there makes mine more unique.

 

[timeless2]

Since when did July, August, September & October become winter months?

Maybe I should have said "autumn".

People plan for winter before it gets here. End of summer is typically when more focus (sales-wise) shift towards vehicles that have off-road capabilities to cope with inclement weather and uncertain driving conditions.

Some climates get snow in the fall, so it might have some effect earlier than the winter months.

 

[Hadda70Mach1]

Availability

I'm in the same boat as 1200Bruce: I visited my dealer in the spring, expressed my interest in a Mustang GT with manual transmission. They of course had NO GT's. I've been back a few times to speak to the same salesman. They have no GT's that aren't bought, so no car I can test drive. They have no idea when they might have an available GT to test drive, manual or even automatic. And it's been seven months now!

I stopped by a dealer in Columbus, Ohio over the summer that had several GT's. They wouldn't let me drive one unless I commited to a purchase price beforehand - and they wanted $4,000 over sticker. Gee, let me think....no thanks.

I haven't bought a different car yet, but my interest in a new Mustang is slowly but surely fading. It's a cool car, but not cool enough that Ford can screw around like this.

 

[66Satellite]

Thanks for making some comments back on my original topic.

I did not start this topic to slam Mustangs. I'm a Mustang owner and a Mustang fan. Nor did I really want to go off topic responding to personal attacks on my credibility.

The reason for for starting this topic was that I've been tracking the S197 Mustang sales and after 3 months of spectacular sales (March, April & May), sales of the 05 ( & now 06) Mustangs have dropped significantly, to the level where for the last 4 consecutive months sales of the 05 & 06 are running below the old 99 - 04 Mustang.

My thought was "Lets kick around some ideas as to why this has happened." After all I'm sure there are Ford people who read this. I'm also sure they are closely watching the sales #s and are interested in our thoughts as to what is going on.

Several people responded with their thoughts as to why the sales are slowing. In my initial post I lambased greedy dealers who are adding dealer markups. After thinking about this some more, there rarely is a single simple answer. It's more likely to be a combination of several factors. Here is a core dump on my thoughts as to possible explanations for what is going on.

1. Ford screwed up the V6-V8 product mix. Although Ford used historic Mustang V6-V8 sales (68% V6, 32% V8) to plan the 05 build mix. But someone at Ford forgot that with the old Mustang a lot of those V6s were to rental and other fleet customers. With the 05 Stang, Ford intentionally reduced the rental & fleet sales but did not adjust the V6-V8 build mix to better match what retail sales actually are. Although in the spring of 05 the GT build % was upped to 38%, the damage had already been done, creating a lingering shortage of GTs that is holding down Mustang sales.

2. Dealer mark ups. Dealers are taking advantage of the situation with greedy markups. This has turned a lot of people off which has resulted in delayed purchases, if not permanently lost Mustang customers.

3. Ford has screwed up the Vert - Coupe build mix by building too many Verts. I live in the cold northeast which is not good Vert county. Like LasVegas the dealers have more verts than they can possibly sell. Was building too many verts just a Ford marketing blunder, or a more sinister plan to increase Mustang profits since the verts are more profitable?

4. Only the die hard Mustang crazies are going to order and wait months for a GT. Most customers end up buying on impulse. If the Mustang they want is not sitting on a dealer's lot, they won't buy. Result, permanently lost Mustang sales.

5. Dealers who are not accepting A-Z plan purchases, or even worse have told customers they will take a plan sale but then back out of it. Again, more lost sales.

6. No matter what they do, the US auto manufacturers are history. Many consumers may think a Mustang is cool, but they have permanently switched to buying imports (rightly or wrongly) and will never again buy a domestic brand (Ford, GM or Chrysler).

7. As cool as the 05/06 Mustang looks, the new Mustang is not in step with today's consumers. Sure there are Mustang crazies who will keep buying Mustangs as long as they are made, but the # of Mustang crazies is shrinking. The Mustang (as most Ford brand cars) is sorely lacking the comforts and amenities that consumers are demanding on cars today such as overall vehicle comfort and ride, heated seats, stability control, climate control, power passenger's seat, more adjustable power driver's seat, NAV system, HID headlamps, good quality leather, etc.

8. Ford blew it with the V6. I don't care how much torque the 4.0L has, most customers barely understand HP let alone torque. With most Asian manufactures selling 260 - 300 HP V6s, the 220 HP Mustang V6 seems like an under acheiver. In addition, with the reduction in fleet sales, the V6 needs more creature comforts (see item 7) to compete with its Asian and European competition.

9. The auto market has become so segmented and consumers want so badly to drive something "different" that no matter how great a Mustang Ford builds, it's sales #s will continue to shrink because today's staus symbol is to drive something different. Consumers just don't want to be seen in the same vehicle that their neighbors are driving. The days of being cool driving the same car as your friend drives have long passed.

10. The 2 door coupe & vert market is dead. While the Mustang dominates this market segment, the Mustang is an anomoly, a vestage of yesterday that will continue to decline in sales no matter how good a Mustang Ford makes. After all, look at all the other 2 door cars that have fallen by the wayside.

11. Sticker shock. The core customer base for the Mustang has always been the working stiff. But with real wages after inflation constant if not declining for the average worker, the price creep on the Mustang has priced out a significant portion of its customer base.

12. No rebates. The consumer has been trained to wait for a great deal if they are buying an American vehicle. Since there are no rebates on the Mustang and it is unlikely that there will be any incentives on Mustangs as long as dealers still demand MSRP or MSRP + dealer markup, customers are waiting for a "deal".

13. Retro is over. As cool as most of us Mustang people think the S197 Mustang is, we are an anmoly that is out of touch with mainstream taste in America. The market for Retro is small and is limiting Mustang sales.

14. I'll just wait for the next Special Edition. We all know that there are SEs in the works. Why get a Mustang just like everyone else's (see item 9). I don't need a new car right now, I'll just sit tight and wait to see what SEs come out over the next couple years.

15. Ford has really screwed up with its allocation method. Too many Mustangs are going to the big high pressure, high markup dealers. My local small Ford dealer can't even order me the Mustang I want.

So what do you guys think? I'm not saying any of those above items are true or correct. I'm just throwing them out as possible reasons why sales have slowed.

Great post as always 351CJ

Agree with most of what you wrote. Seems like the poor v6/v8 mix has led to the shortage leading to price gouging by dumb/greedy/short-sighted dealers. I don't think retro is dead at all--check out the success of the Mini, Beetle, the 300c, etc. I don't think the two door segment is dead, either. I think DC blew it by not making the Charger a two door (they should call the current four door Charger a Magnum sedan). Regarding pricing I would STILL like to see some kind of low option v8 LX-type package.

 

[D.Hearne]

I'm in the same boat as 1200Bruce: I visited my dealer in the spring, expressed my interest in a Mustang GT with manual transmission. They of course had NO GT's. I've been back a few times to speak to the same salesman. They have no GT's that aren't bought, so no car I can test drive. They have no idea when they might have an available GT to test drive, manual or even automatic. And it's been seven months now!

I stopped by a dealer in Columbus, Ohio over the summer that had several GT's. They wouldn't let me drive one unless I commited to a purchase price beforehand - and they wanted $4,000 over sticker. Gee, let me think....no thanks.

I haven't bought a different car yet, but my interest in a new Mustang is slowly but surely fading. It's a cool car, but not cool enough that Ford can screw around like this.

I suspect Ford's going to loose a LOT of Stang sales like this. I share your pain. Only reason I haven't bought anything else and waited for mine is, there is nothing else I'm remotely interested in. If there was , I'd have been long gone by now.amnit:

 

[351CJ]

Maybe I should have said "autumn".

People plan for winter before it gets here. End of summer is typically when more focus (sales-wise) shift towards vehicles that have off-road capabilities to cope with inclement weather and uncertain driving conditions.

Some climates get snow in the fall, so it might have some effect earlier than the winter months.

So when did July & August become "autumn" months?

To test you theory I went back and looked at monthly sales data for some prior years. Over the past few years, Mustang sales normally are highest in April & May and lowest in September.

January & February are usually weak months, but November & December are normally good sales months, so that sort of blows your theory. I guess I'd explain the Nov & Dec good sales as the Xmas present factor and the poor Jan & Feb sales as the combination of winter and Xmas spending hangover.

In any case, what should be concerning Ford right now is that October sales were barely above Sept - below the historical sales pickup in October. In addition, July and Aug sales were not good.

Looking at the data and the excellent comments that many of you posted in this thread, I've come to the following conclusion:

Demand for GTs is still strong, driven by the gearhead & Mustang cult factors. Supply shortages and dealer gouging is what is limiting GT sales right now. There is not a problem on the GT side of the equation. GT customers will put up with the Mustang's short comings as the GT is fast, loud and cool as hell. As dealers finally give up on their markups and have GTs on the lot, sales should remain strong for quite some time.

As far as the V6 Mustang goes - Dearborn, we have a problem. It's become clear to me that the average customer (non gearhead, non Mustang cult member) is passing over the Mustang V6. The V6 Mustang is not in sync. with the mainstream market for "sporty" / "personal" cars. For those consumers who are not concerned about performance (are members of the Mustang cult), the V6 Mustang falls short of it's import brand competition in areas of fit & finish, quality (especially interior), plus amenities and comfort features that consumers want.

 

[Rontyco]

We're doing our part in Canada!

My daughter in Montreal just bought an 06' V6 with pony pkg.I have an 04Mach 1.If all families would buy in multiples we wouldn't be in this jam.

 

[vicmeldrew]

My daughter in Montreal just bought an 06' V6 with pony pkg.I have an 04Mach 1.If all families would buy in multiples we wouldn't be in this jam.

man was i confused when i read this thread but then i realized this guy replied to a post nearly a year old LOL

 

[05MGT]

It's funny how quickly everyone becomes Sales Marketing experts and Financial Advisors....