I'm wondering how manymore Stangs there will be on lots in the spring. I remember during the intro of the previous car in 1993-1994, there was a plentiful supply by Feb.
Ford has told the auto press that they have capacity to produce 1500/day. If production continues at that pace there should be quite a few in any dealers inventory.
In the spring, I would expect them to be bumping into one another as they exit the dealerships. I would however, suggest that anyone purchasing "off the lot" in the spring, check the manufacture date. Last car you want are the ones that were customer "test mules" and salesmens lot cars for 4 months. These would be the ones that sat there all winter while the dealers waited for the suckers to pay over list, revved up cold each day, and taken out for coffe and doughnuts runs. Let them be stuck with them!
Ford has told the auto press that they have capacity to produce 1500/day. If production continues at that pace there should be quite a few in any dealers inventory.
Do you have a link to that? Ive heard they could only produce a max of 166k per year, if they produce 1500/day assuming its a 5 day work week, thats about 390k cars per year?
Do you have a link to that? Ive heard they could only produce a max of 166k per year, if they produce 1500/day assuming its a 5 day work week, thats about 390k cars per year?
The maximum capacity of AAI is about 282,000 vehicles per year with overtime hours (2 x 10 hour shifts 5 days / week and some Saturday shifts).
However, AAI also builds Mazda 6s on the same line. Right now the build mix is 3 Mustangs to 1 Mazda which would be 211,000 Mustangs / year. But keep in mind that # assumes the plant is run flat out with overtime, there are no parts shortages and there is no unplanned downtime. I was told by a Ford person (as one of the Mustang events) that they expected to be able to build a maximum of 195,000 Mustangs per year. Then you have to subtract out export cars (Canada, Mexico, etc.) so figure about 175,000 - 05 Mustangs will be made for the US market.
But to address the original question, 175,000 Mustangs is A LOT, since Ford sold 140,000 Mustangs in the US last year. So by the time April rolls around I'd expect there to be a pretty good supply of '05 Mustangs on dealer lots.
Also keep in mind that many Ford dealers still have A LOT of '04s on their lots. I'm sure that they will not be inclined to deeply discount the '05s until ALL their '04s have been sold.
A Ford dealership near me will already go $500 below MSRP on the '05, so I don't think discounts will be an issue, especially because those '04s are going to be around for a LONG time... most dealerships that I know of are stuck with at the very least 10 each.