Ford GT sales drop 40% in July

[centerpunch]

From www.FordGTprices.com

August 2 Update:
Ford GT sales plummet 40% in July

May sales were 117 cars, June sales were 150 cars, but July sales dropped to only 91 cars. http://media.ford.com/pdf/July2005sales.pdf

Reason #1: Many dealers are waiting in vain to find buyers willing to pay $180K or $200K or more, instead of paying the current market price of $165K-$170K.

Reason #2: Ford's recent highly-illogical $10,000 price increase ("Hey, sales are slow, let's raise the price!") has further confused buyers and sellers (and they were already confused enough!)

[Ford of France]

At some point the novelty wears off. The universe of buyers for a car in this price range is very limited and, I would suspect, saturation is, probably, not far off.

[panz]

Question...Didn't Ford decide to continue to build the Ford GT next year also and maybe the year after?

[Steve Cassani]

Sales of exotic or specialty cars, certainly the Miata, Fiero and the soon-to-be-released Solstice, are exaggerated for the first model year and then taper off. Ford's dealers may find they have over-priced the initial enthusiasm and reduced the price to market value too late to capture the interest generated by the initial marketing effort. If the industry's reaction to the decline in sales typical of these cars repeats, the next public statement will show Ford claiming to have over-stated demand and responding by adjusting supply.

The folks at Saleen, Roush and other suppliers/contractors are likley wondering what they have gotten themselves into. That is where the pinch will be made to be felt. And it all began with the dealers and Ford's unwillingness to manage sales following a dealer's financial committment to sell an agreed number of cars.

[GOCATS]

Maybe the "Market Adjustment Clause" is a little bit to steep for most people to swallow. I am curious to see how the SPF replica does wtith these factors: s 90% interchangible with the original.... and significantly reduced price compared to the Ford model. No market adjustment there Ford is going to price themselves out of the market just like what happened with the reintroduction of the T-Bird.


J.A.

[Bob In Ct]

Good! After the way they treated me regarding concerns I had with a 2005 I recently purchased I hope they fold. I've purchased my last Ford.

Bob

[Steve Cassani]

Bob,

Hopefully we're not drifting so far as to have hijacked this thread...

Ford addressed the suspension issue with the GT promptly and openly. I believe the President of the company tod the press he was disgusted that anyone who paid $160,000 or more for a car should have their purchase subject to a recall. As best I've learned, the dealers followed through with their share of the responsibility.

I don't know of any business that is subject to the intensity of unforgiving criticism we are comfortable directing at auto manufacturers, dealers and auto repair shops. I don't deny that cars have been poorly designed and built or that dealers have behaved unprofessionally and shops have taken advantage of customers' ignorance of their specialty. But I think our quickness to anger when dealing with any portion of the industry is also a reflection of how much we depend on the car to support how we live. Having a car is not worth comment until something goes wrong and then the criticism is severe and almost unredeemable. Cars should be listed with clean air, electricity and water as basic to survival and so treated as a public utility rather than an opportunity for profit.

Now that I've typed that last line I realize I'm on a tangent so I'll stop.

[bret a ewing]

Originally posted by Steve Cassani




........................................... I don't deny that cars have been poorly designed and built or that dealers have behaved unprofessionally and shops have taken advantage of customers' ignorance of their specialty......................................... ...............

Now that I've typed that last line I realize I'm on a tangent so I'll stop.

Forgot about the biggie - $.

[Blue66]

Well I started to think about them so I went to ebay. Lots of them there . BUT ya have a "dealer" driving prices up from what I was seeing I think the people that HAD to have them allready to . So now the market should adjust

[CoupedUp]

I am very simple-minded, but it just seems to be a stalemate between the dealers and the buyers. The dealers insiste the cars are worth a price that the buyers are not willing to pay. I think I know who will end this battle of wills in the end, but it will be really interesting to watch it play out. Plus, it gives me something to do while waiting for my car...

Doug

[Blue66]

Well dealer's will be paying finance charges soon . Thats when you will see the cars starting to sell .

[TampaFla]

You'd be better off buying the GT than buying stock in the company.

[Yetiman]

Well, they sold at least one more than that in July, as one turned up at a car show here last night with 36 miles on it. The new owner had driven from Wisconsin to Alabama and trailered the car home over the weekend.

He claimed to have paid much closer to 160k than 200k.

[gsharapa]

Let's keep in mind that it is not Ford Motor Company that has pushed the price of the Ford GT up in those high ranges, but the dealers and even consumers willing to pay those prices. Yep the prices are adjusting but will not come down to MSRP until the consumers stop paying the high prices!!!!!!!!!

Ford is not making much money at all on the cars, in fact the $ 10,000 increased MSRP on 2006 models is to cover additonal costs Roush and Saleen are going to charge Ford.

It's a great car and $ 140K and $ 150K is pretty fair price for what you get vs. it's competition and that's where Ford priced it!

[Bart Carter]

My advise to Ford:

Keep making the GT and put them out to dealers that do not have any in stock. Now dealers will have to compete with themselves for business and pricing will reflect that.

I wonder if I went to a Ford dealer that hadn't received a GT and told him if he could get one from Ford I would pay him list, what would happen. Do you think he could talk Ford into shipping him one? I think so.

[bret a ewing]

Bart,
Production will end next year due to revised safety requirements.

Bret.

[centerpunch]

Prices continue to drop, one just sold for $165,000 (only $9K over sticker).

See http://www.FordGTprices.com for details....

[clayfoushee]

I was high on the GT in the beginning too, but have soured quite a bit. The new Z06, which will start appearing in a few weeks, appears to virtually match the GT's performance numbers. It's lighter and also has a little less HP at 505, but has a better drag coefficient. It's also half the MSRP.

The new Z06 has been tested at Nurburgring in stock form (doing a 7.42), something which Ford has not done for some reason. I think they'll have trouble selling out the announced run at MSRP.

[Excaliber]

The Ford GT is just totally cool. Performance numbers? Heck, it's "fast enough" compared to anything else. It's just looks awesome and is worthy of it's GT-40 namesake.

[Don]

From AutoWeek, Aug 8th

* Red, no stripes, 3 miles, $210,000
* Red w/ stripe, new, $185,000
* Black , no stripe, 8 Miles, $189,000
* Red, no stripe, 8 miles, $189,000
* Black, no stripe, 30 miles $180,000
* Black w/ silver stripe, 350 miles, $180,000

Avg for the 6: $189,000