4th month in a row of lackluster Mustang sales

351CJ · Nov 2, 2005

October Mustang sales were again mediocre with only 11,234 of them sold (US).

Now before anyone goes crowing about how that was 21% better than October 04, remember that a year ago 05 Mustang production was just ramping up, the 04 model ceased production in May 04, so the dealer lots were empty, there was a legitimate shortage of Mustangs a year ago.

Looking at the prior 3 months sales:
July 10,577
August 10,921
September 10,976

That's an annual sales rate of only 131,000.
That's HORRIBLE and lower than what the old Mustang sold in 1998. 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 & 2003.

So what's the problem?

I'd say it's dealers who are still trying to get sticker for V6s, over sticker for GTs and on top of that are loading up Mustangs with over priced dealer installed options. These dealers are sacraficing their future in an attempt to make some quick bucks today.

RICVA05 · Nov 2, 2005

I would have to say alot of the poor sales has alot to do with gas price's.

FL2005GT · Nov 2, 2005

Agreed. I waited to get my 05 in mid-October to get a good deal here in FL. That's the only way I could get any reasonable negotiation done. At the various dealerships I shopped, the sticker price was also appx. $1K higher for 06's vs. 05's with the exact same options. And in FL, forget about getting any deal on a 'vert.

I used Ford's online dealer inventory search to help narrow down my options, and it was a BIG help. I checked my car (they list by VIN) the day after I purchased and it was already out of inventory. It was there the day of purchase.

Oh, and this was good for a chuckle: Freedom Ford has two GT's (not Mustang's) with "Painted Racing Stripes" as $5,000 options. Guess that sounds better than "Glaringly Obvious Profit Item."

jfischer · Nov 2, 2005

Just a few weeks ago I stopped at the local Fraud dealer, and they still wanted $5,000 over MSRP on a GT Coupe. I hope they choke on it...

98GTfromGA · Nov 2, 2005

i ordered an '06 for x plan

MCMustangMan · Nov 2, 2005

Here in Detroit, the only GTs you can find at the dealers are verts, where are the hardtops at? Why isn't there any hardtops? There are lots of V6s and verts. Is Ford holding down the numbers on the hardtop GTs for some reason? If so, why? I cannot believe that those looking for a GT would rather pay top dollar for a soft top over a bargain hardtop.

LIZARDKING · Nov 2, 2005

This topic title is very misleading.

New car sales in the US are down across the board. Not just Mustang sales. Gas prices have little to nothing to do with sales.

Because of the dealer incentives over the summer many people who werent planning on buying or had planned on buying later jumped on the chance to save thousands.

Many other people jumped at the chance to buy a 1 or 2 year old vehicle at a pretty substancial savings.

I was in both catagories. I bought a 05 Mustang and a 04 F150. I got the Mustang for 2k under sticker and the F150 for 15,500. The F150 was only 8 months old with 7300 miles. I have the orginal window sticker for 27,500.

So the car manufacters cut thier own throats on this one. With 3 months of record sales, and the end of incentives, of course sales will slump.

I predict we see a return to something similar for incentives by next summer at the latest.

alfman9 · Nov 2, 2005

They moved 200+ more units than the month before and you say sales are declining? Check your numbers, you never make any sense, using fuzzy math are we?

And even if sales started declining did you ever think that maybe it is because of all the complaints on this and other boards about the cars? I for one am tired of all the complaining you cry babies.

OBTW, why are you so worried with Ford's sales numbers? Invest the farm in their stock and now having second thoughts? American car companies are in trouble, so instead of pointing out the negative, look for the positive and do what you can to bail them out.

On cnbc the other day it was suggested to invest heavily in toyota and honda. Sure, give the asians all your money, they already own most of our country anyway. How about being an American. That or get the heck out.

FL2005GT · Nov 2, 2005

Maybe they've moved a load of GT's south for winter sales...

Use this link to Ford's dealer inventory search and type in 33713 (Tampa Bay). Large supply, including coupes.

http://www57.forddirect.fordvehicle...sModel=1&selectModel=2006+Mustang&statetoken=

On the 2006's (which I priced when shopping for my 2005), they're holding firm to MSRP, but not pushing markups (other than dealer pre-installed items, decals, etc). That's in my experience with three dealerships.

degins · Nov 3, 2005

FL2005GT said:
Maybe they've moved a load of GT's south for winter sales...

Use this link to Ford's dealer inventory search and type in 33713 (Tampa Bay). Large supply, including coupes.

http://www57.forddirect.fordvehicle...sModel=1&selectModel=2006+Mustang&statetoken=

On the 2006's (which I priced when shopping for my 2005), they're holding firm to MSRP, but not pushing markups (other than dealer pre-installed items, decals, etc). That's in my experience with three dealerships.

Agreed about southern inventory. There are plenty of GT's available in the Austin market. The rest of the country will catch up by spring with sales rates of 10K per month.

Mickey21 · Nov 3, 2005

Title might be more accurate at "4th month versus previous years sales down in comparison"...

In any case, doesnt a sale count as an order and not a delivery of a vehicle? Maybe last year didnt have that many vehicles to deliver, but there sure were a heck of a lot of orders placed that may be making the numbers look screwing...

In any case the rate of 131,000/year sold vehicles isnt bad by far, as many muscle car figures sell way less than that. GTO anyone? And the actual sales per year numbers are still very healthy. Looking at just the rate of sales is a little inaccurate. It's the yearly sales that give a better figure...

Still waiting till I can pick mine up... Oh well...

XStanger · Nov 3, 2005

Why on earth do you post stats like this? You are the one that supposedly is waiting to order a GT, and I think that I replied to you that I could order you one on xplan like over 3 mo's ago!!

BTW, the dealership I work at still (over 1 yr later of the release of the new design) does not have a single GT on the lot for sale, only 8 v6 coupes, and have to admit a fair amount of v6 conv.

Doc GTO · Nov 3, 2005

Mickey21 said:
Title might be more accurate at "4th month versus previous years sales down in comparison"...

In any case, doesnt a sale count as an order and not a delivery of a vehicle? Maybe last year didnt have that many vehicles to deliver, but there sure were a heck of a lot of orders placed that may be making the numbers look screwing...

In any case the rate of 131,000/year sold vehicles isnt bad by far, as many muscle car figures sell way less than that. GTO anyone? And the actual sales per year numbers are still very healthy. Looking at just the rate of sales is a little inaccurate. It's the yearly sales that give a better figure...

Still waiting till I can pick mine up... Oh well...

131K sold is a lot! Well Mickey you do know thay only made 15K GTOs for 04 and 05. It is not a high volumn car. Now, GM could have marketed the GTO better but they still would have only sold the 15K each year faster. They could have also released them at a better time during the year as to not let the end of the 04s mix with the early 05s but they have to deal with Australia and getting them overm via boat then rail.

1fastz · Nov 3, 2005

price gougeing

without a doubt its the fact dealers are STILL trying to gouge and ask for higher then window sticker ..

that piled on top of the fact the new mustang is more expensive then the last = lackluster sales.

crod75 · Nov 3, 2005

I think the one positive thing about sales being relatively flat is that it means the car is still relatively unique. I have had my 2005 GT for several months and I have still only seen a handful of other GTs (or V6s) in northeastern Ohio. For me part of the fun of having the car has been the reactions and compliments from other drivers. I don't think this would still happen if the cars were everywhere already.

bulldogranger · Nov 3, 2005

Here in West Michigan, if you want a GT you have to go Roush. One of the dealerships over here said that's the only way they could get a decent supply. Too bad they were all Stage 1's and I ain't paying 10+ more for bodywork and a name.

351CJ · Nov 3, 2005

Twofocused said:
This topic title is very misleading.

New car sales in the US are down across the board. Not just Mustang sales. Gas prices have little to nothing to do with sales.

The topic is not misleading.

Thanks to "employee" pricing the US auto makers had very good sales months in July and August, while Mustang sales languished.

Again, I'm not blaming Ford, it's dealers who are adding $5K stripe jobs and $5K market adjustments who are killing Mustang sales. First they killed the T-Bird and now they are in the process of killing the Ford GT and the new Mustang.

351CJ · Nov 3, 2005

alfman9 said:
OBTW, why are you so worried with Ford's sales numbers? Invest the farm in their stock and now having second thoughts?

I'm a big Ford fan. I have owned 26 different Fords over the years. It is tearing me up inside to see Fords problems being made worse by dealers who are attempting to rape customers with $5K tape stripe jobs and $5K market adustments.

OBTW, I used to have a lot of Ford stock, but sold the last of it a long time ago for 3 times what it's price is today.

351CJ · Nov 3, 2005

Mickey21 said:
In any case, doesnt a sale count as an order and not a delivery of a vehicle? Maybe last year didnt have that many vehicles to deliver, but there sure were a heck of a lot of orders placed that may be making the numbers look screwing...

As I pointed out the last time around on this topic, that is not correct.
The montly sales #s as reported by Ford, GM, etc. are actual customer deliveries of cars sold by the dealres, NOT dealer orders.

Mickey21 said:
In any case the rate of 131,000/year sold vehicles isnt bad ...

Actually 131,000 Mustangs / year is not good.
Let's look at some past year's sales:
2003: 140,350
2002: 138,356
2001: 169,198
2000: 173,676
1999: 166,915
1998: 147,587

All that $$ to develop the new Mustang and it's not selling as well as the old one?

Again, the point I'm making is that a lot of dealers are still pretending that there are shortages of Mustangs, when in reality Ford is manufacturing many more Mustangs each month that are being sold.

351CJ · Nov 3, 2005

XStanger said:
Why on earth do you post stats like this?

Because when other people post here about how their local dealers are demanding $5K market adjustments, they should be armed with real data on Mustang sales to dispell those dealer myths.

XStanger said:
You are the one that supposedly is waiting to order a GT, and I think that I replied to you that I could order you one on xplan like over 3 mo's ago!!

And I belive that I told you my 2001 Mustang GT with 26K miles is a toy car (my daily driver is a 2003 Lincoln LS V8 Sport). As much as I'd love to have a new 2006 Mustang GT (Vista Blue, with 18" Bullits, of course), I can wait for the right time and place to buy my next toy. I've waited this long, so I might as well wait to see if the rumors about a HP bump for 2007 are true or not. Buy the way I do respect your dealer for accepting X plan, something none of the dealers around me will do at the moment.

XStanger said:
BTW, the dealership I work at still (over 1 yr later of the release of the new design) does not have a single GT on the lot for sale, only 8 v6 coupes, and have to admit a fair amount of v6 conv.

No arguement, I have posted several times on other topics asking about Mustang availability that the dealers areound me have few GTs but they have V6s stacked up on their lots 5 rows deep. Ask yourself why aren't the V6s selling?

4th month in a row of lackluster Mustang sales

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