Why So Few On The Lots?

puma1552

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Feb 12, 2011
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I traded off my '98 GT early last month to get my wife's new car, and also since it was just a good time to let it go and I got a good price on it. This also means I get to get into something new anytime between fall and spring (if not fall I'll wait until spring when the salt is gone). I'm considering a '13 GT as a potential option.

But up here in the north, they are almost unicorns on dealer lots; I can understand dealers in the rust belt having few of them in the colder months since virtually nobody in MN buys a Mustang in the pits of January, but even in the spring and all through the summer, the dealer lots have virtually none then either. At most a handful, and even then the majority or all of them will be V6 cars (I understand the V6 far outsells the V8). I also understand dealers have allocations, but 50-60 Fusions and 2 Mustangs? Or 0? Come on. Even the big volume dealers around here barely ever have any.

Also it seems like whenever they do have a GT, it's ordered with the wonkiest options/option combos. It'll be something like a GT premium with the reverse sensing package and some $1,000 wheel option (I recall nearly every single '11 and '12 GT I did see on lots having the $1k 19" wheel option that looked EXACTLY the same as the non-Brembo standard 18s) and that's it. A Brembo car on the lot is virtually unheard of, let alone any car that's optioned with just the performance goodies.

Ordering is always great, but sometimes it's nice to check the car out in person on the lot before you buy it so you can make sure it doesn't have any paint or cosmetic issues, etc.

It's kind of tough to sell me a car if they don't even have one to test drive that I could potentially get excited about owning...
 
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When I was looking to buy a mustang last year, I ordered a 2012 V6 premium convertible with several additional options from a dealer in Glenwood Springs, Colorado in March, telling them that I had to have it by at least mid June, as I spend my summers in Colorado and my winters in Florida. At the end of May, they told me that they had not heard from Ford re a build date and would refund my deposit. I contacted every Ford dealer in Denver and not one had a convertible in stock, so I bought one in Florida and had the dealer ship it to Colorado. Yes, it cost me an extra thousand to ship it, and it didn't have all the options I wanted, but at least I had it in early June and it was the color I wanted ( candy red metallic ) It seems that they don't stock convertibles in Colorado, but they had loads of them in Florida.
 
Not sure what all the issues are, but you're right, there's very few on lots. I know one of the problems seems to be a quality hold on the power seats, that caused all the vehicles that hadn't shipped to be pulled back to the factory o/a August 7. There's a huge backlog at the plant getting these vehicles shipped.