05's at a discount, already!

Ford is advertising their Presidents Sale. The 05 Mustang is mentioned. I'm
going to stop by and see if it's BS.

Al in Tucson

Saw an ad Suday for an 05 Premium GT at $2,399 off sticker. Think the
dealer was in Westborough, Ma.

Martin

Martin wrote:
> Saw an ad Suday for an 05 Premium GT at $2,399 off sticker. Think the
> dealer was in Westborough, Ma.
>
> Martin

Anyone in here pay above sticker?


--
Wound Up
ThunderSnake #65

"Martin" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> Saw an ad Suday for an 05 Premium GT at $2,399 off sticker. Think the
> dealer was in Westborough, Ma.
>
> Martin

I never even SEE GTs on the local dealer's lot. At least, not for long.

dwight

Big Al wrote:

> Ford is advertising their Presidents Sale.
> The 05 Mustang is mentioned. I'm
> going to stop by and see if it's BS.

Yes, you could fit a 460 in there, but it would be wrong.

As for Mustang sales, here are some cherry picks from Ford.com's
investor hype pages:

News Release - 11/3/2004 :

Ford's overall sales totaled 268,474 in October, down 5 percent
compared with year ago.

Ford's F-Series truck, bolstered by the arrival of the new Super Duty
model, posted its fourteenth consecutive monthly sales increase.
October sales totaled 79,704, up 16 percent. Year-to-date, F-Series
sales totaled 777,642, up 12 percent.

Ford dealers are delivering new Mustangs as fast as they arrive.
Although total Mustang sales were down 5 percent from a year ago,
retail sales were up 20 percent. The overall decline reflected sharply
lower fleet deliveries.

(A chart of sales that accompanies this same press release states Oct
04 Stang sales as 9,232, down from 9,755 in Oct 03. )

News Release -12/1/2004:

Mustang stampede is on; total sales up 12 percent, retail sales up 50
percent.

The Mustang stampede is on. In November, sales of Ford's legendary pony
car totaled 12,816, up 11 percent compared with a year ago. That is
only part of the story. Retail sales to individual customers were 50
percent higher than a year ago.

"This is a fantastic result," said Jim O'Connor, Ford's group vice
president, North American Marketing, Sales and Service. "Normally, we
have to wait until spring to see Mustang sales at this level."

(The chart for Nov 04 shows 12,816 Stangs sold, vs. 11,456 for Nov
03, a 11.9% increase.)

News Release - 1/4/2005

Total Mustang sales were up 9 percent compared with a year ago. Retail
sales for Ford's legendary pony car were 60 percent higher than a year
ago.

(The chart shows Dec 04 sales of 13,342, vs. 12,249 for '03.)

News Release - 2/1/2005

Ford Mustang continued to set a torrid sales pace in January as sales
to individual retail customers were 33 percent higher than a year ago.
Lower fleet deliveries partially offset the increase in retail demand
resulting in an overall Mustang sales increase of 4 percent.

"The Mustang is the hottest car in the industry," said Hesterberg. "It
is very unusual for a sports coupe to sell this well in the middle of
winter. Our dealers and customers are looking forward to the arrival of
the convertible, which started production this week."

(The chart shows 10,285 for Jan '05 vs 9,906 for '04, up 3.8%.)

All-in-all not a disaster, but for those of us who remember the
600,000 sold in each of Mustang's first two years -- 50,000 per
month, and U.S. population was about 60% of what it is today -- it's
not quite the same.

Worse news is the trend line. Year-to-year sales up 12% the first
full month in release, then 9%, then 3.8%. If February follows the
trend Ford could be looking at a goose egg or worse, and that would not
look good for a hot new product. So yeah, it would seem to be time
to roll out the 0% APR and all the rest.

180 Out

> wrote in message
oups.com...
[Excellent post snipped]
> All-in-all not a disaster, but for those of us who remember the
> 600,000 sold in each of Mustang's first two years -- 50,000 per
> month, and U.S. population was about 60% of what it is today -- it's
> not quite the same.
>
> Worse news is the trend line. Year-to-year sales up 12% the first
> full month in release, then 9%, then 3.8%. If February follows the
> trend Ford could be looking at a goose egg or worse, and that would not
> look good for a hot new product. So yeah, it would seem to be time
> to roll out the 0% APR and all the rest.

I think the bigger engines and better handling will keep the sales at least
even, but the style is already seeming too familiar (retro) to me.

Not to mention the $5,000 mark up that really turned me off at the local
Ford dealer...do you really want to have a 3-5 year car relationship with
their service department?

-John

I've heard through some reliable sources that Ford had their worst ever
sales figures for January last month. Maybe it's true and this is their
way of trying to stop the bleeding.

Big Al wrote:
> Ford is advertising their Presidents Sale. The 05 Mustang is mentioned. I'm
> going to stop by and see if it's BS.
>
> Al in Tucson
>
>

That could be true. I think the "Year of the Car" as Ford touted may
become the "Year of A Car". The new 500, Freestyle, Montego, which are
more important financially are not moving well at all. The reviews the
cars are getting are pretty bad considering they are brand new.
Generally the styling is getting the barbs. But the dealers are
supposedly achieving good results turning test drives into sales. You
just have to get potential buyers in the cars. Maybe they will catch
on. The 83 Thunderbird was a poor seller initially but proceeded to
improve and blaze a trail for Ford's coming Taurus.
The Mustang is no doubt the shining star. Retail sales are up big
year over year. Ford said last year they were targeting lower fleet
sales. Also there is no way current day sales could approach those
numbers from the early years. Its true there was less population, but
the number of choices buyers have now is much greater.
I think the end of the world is near. Autoweek has a story on the
new HONDA pickup.

Frustration effect, maybe.

I know two people at work who were looking for Mustang GTs, and are
close to giving up because of [1] low supply jacking up prices (on the
GT at least) and [2] low supply making it hard to find the desired
option combination. One of them has started looking at (gasp) Lexii.

ZombyWoof wrote:
> On 17 Feb 2005 00:57:47 -0800, "HerkyJerky" > wrote
> something wonderfully witty:
>
>
>>That could be true. I think the "Year of the Car" as Ford touted may
>>become the "Year of A Car". The new 500, Freestyle, Montego, which are
>>more important financially are not moving well at all. The reviews the
>>cars are getting are pretty bad considering they are brand new.
>>Generally the styling is getting the barbs. But the dealers are
>>supposedly achieving good results turning test drives into sales. You
>>just have to get potential buyers in the cars. Maybe they will catch
>>on. The 83 Thunderbird was a poor seller initially but proceeded to
>>improve and blaze a trail for Ford's coming Taurus.
>> The Mustang is no doubt the shining star. Retail sales are up big
>>year over year. Ford said last year they were targeting lower fleet
>>sales. Also there is no way current day sales could approach those
>>numbers from the early years. Its true there was less population, but
>>the number of choices buyers have now is much greater.
>> I think the end of the world is near. Autoweek has a story on the
>>new HONDA pickup.
>>
>
> Not to mention that the paradigm that a lot of younger car buyers have
> is that Japanese mini-iron is the way to go. If I see one more fart
> pipe on a lowered Honda covered in racing stickers I'm going to fart.

I have high hopes that the V-6 version of the Mustang will draw some of
these youth from the dark side. Once the after market gets going for
the V-6 it I bet there will be some decent performance to be extracted
from that engine.