siege
New Member
usa1 said:It simply makes no sense for Ford to bring out a V8 Mustang for under $20K in 2005. They do not need to do something like this for years. Demand in 2005 will be high for the new Mustang. Demand in 2006 will be high as well and the new Cobra and convertible will come out to add excitement and volume. It won't be until 2007 at the very earliest that Ford will feel a need to start tinkering with the Mustang to increase sales and interest.
Ford invested a lot of R&D and tooling into the new 2005 Mustang. They simply cannot afford to bring out the new car at the price the current V8 GTs are being discounted to. The current model has all its production tooling completely depreciated and paid for with no real R&D being charged to it for changes since 1999. The new Mustang needs to pay all these things off over the first few years. I'm guessing 5 years is the accounting norm for new car tooling.
Ford is making the new Mustang at the same plant that is making the Mazda 6. They do not need (and probably cannot without capacity problems) to sell 300,000 of the new Mustangs to keep the plant at full capacity. They estimated something like 150,000 to 180,000 units the first year. They don't need a $20K V8 to make this volume number. Demand will invariably drop to a normal level of 120,000 to 150,000 cars per year after the newness of the new car wears off and they will have the Mazda 6 volume to keep the plant humming and cost efficient.
Anyone who thinks $26K for a 300 HP V8 car on a new platform is too much has not shopped around recently. Nothing else on the market will beat the Mustang on the bang for the buck scale. Nothing.
Lastly, a $20K V8 Mustang starts the new Mustang off on the wrong foot. It makes Ford look desparate to sell this new car when the competitors are selling 4 cylinder FWD cars with a measly 180 HP for $22K. Ford wants to move the Mustang up market a bit, not start it off as a car immediately seen as cheap and discounted.
As much as it we would all like a $20K V8, it simple makes no sense.
All that being said, I hope Ford brings out a V8 powered Mustang for under $20K!
Mark
on the contrary, I think ford NEEDs to do something like this. I don't think it will make them look desparate..it'll make them look awesome. they have virtually no competition in their class and this will just make sales go thru the roof. I see lots of GM owners switching over if this happens. if they want to take the market by storm with a new product, this is the way