Update Info on Ford GT

Good info Wayne. How much is that dealer selling for?

 

Well, they're asking $310,000.

http://www.buyafordgtlottery.com/hot_link.html

But I only want one GT...

 

interesting. those 2005 MY numbers suggest about 175 per month. that would come to 1,500 for 2005 MY and 2,100 for 2006 MY - 3,600 total.

by maths, ferrari sells on the order of 75 cars per month in all of NA. net out 10% for Canada and Mexico (a guess) and you get 68 cars per month.

the GT purportedly is not going to Canada or Mexico. net out the 100 cars for euroland and you've got 170 per month to move in the USofA.

they're looking to move about the same number of cars per month in the US as ferrari, aston, bentley, rolls royce, and lamborghini sell per month here combined and sustained over a 20+ month period. i just don't see where those $150K to $175K buyers are going to come from (ignoring the inflated $235K prices today).

once we see cars on the ground, prices will start to float towards sticker. if ford can't make those new buyers materialize for the 2006 MY cars, prices will be in freefall since these dealers just really aren't set up to carry cars of this cost structure for months on end (imo).

doody.

 

Nice analysis!!

 

It's arguable that there is much higher demand for a Ford GT than any Ferrari car though. It truly outcompetes Ferrari & it's made in the USA...I wonder how many people that fact alone attracts.

 

I do think that this will pull many older "Millionaires Next Door" around the heartland states to buy the Ford GT. Saved money from small business owners; they might have an exodus of other moderately wealthy individuals who now buy Vette and Viper.

 

Yup. This is a year old Edmunds article where the GT team was interviewed. Link is at the bottom, but there was one specific part/question that asked the same thing. Here is the question and some of the responses from the GT team.

Edmunds.com: Who is the Ford GT buyer?

Scarpello: It's going to be a male in his 50s or 60s. He's a car nut. He always loved cars his whole life. The GT is something that has some meaning to him, and this is his chance to own something that he's probably lusted after for a long time.

Jamal Hameedi, Ford GT program manager: I think you'll see with this car a pretty unique mix of clientele. I think you'll have the people who are into traditional European exotic cars. I think there will be a lot of consumers who would not traditionally buy this kind of a car but will be attracted to the statement of American engineering prowess. People who have plenty of money to buy a six-figure car but they wouldn't necessarily go out and buy a Ferrari. That's not their cup of tea. We talked to a lot of exotic car owners who said, "I'd love to buy an American supercar but they're just not around. There are no American supercars, so we have to go get Ferraris and Porsches. But we are so excited that finally someone is making an American supercar."

Primo Goffi, product and business planning specialist: There are a lot of people who wouldn't give a second look to a European exotic car. An example would be somebody who could have a large collection of domestics, say, a muscle car enthusiast or a collector who may own a Shelby or even an original GT40 from the '60s. A lot of people who obviously have the financial resources to purchase one but would never give a European exotic a second look. A lot of those people are clamoring for this car. You have dealer principals, quite a few of which have the financial resources to purchase a car in this arena but it wouldn't be socially acceptable, for lack of a better term, to purchase a European exotic because they own a Ford store. So that opens up quite a large number of people who have the financial resources available and are most likely going to own one of these cars.

Link to the full interview. http://www.edmunds.com/advice/specialreports/articles/100499/article.html

 

So great. And a super car. A proper warranty. Drive the piss out of it.

Only fly in the ointment is the dealers, who will spoil any good feelings by trying to get stupid money. I would buy one...but not for ten cents over sticker.

I hope all those piece of **** T-birds they tried to sell over sticker rot on the parking lots. You would think they would learn from that.

 

while i concur that the dealers are behaving exceptionally short-sightedly, there is a catch, apparently.

as i understand it, FMC is basically giving the dealers next to no margin on these cars. i don't know the exact numbers, but apparently i'ts nearly zero profit. so the only way they can make reasonable money is to whore the cars out via auction, etc.

unfortunately, while this will work initially, just like the t-birds, i don't think it'll carry for 3,600 units in the US. and the backlash will be unpleasant - including qualified buyers who refuse to come back when FMC needs them most - simply because of the inane treatment they received a priori.

so i wouldn't entirely blame the dealers - apparently FMC deserves some of this.

doody.

 

If this is true Ford deserves what it gets. They have done some incredibly stupid things in the past 18 months.

If they are indeed not making any margin we should expect an MSRP increase as soon as sales cool.

 

My predicion -

The first 200 or so will go for big money. This is what I call the "Jones Factor", where Mr. and Mrs. Jones just have to be the first on the block to own one. I saw a lot of this when the 99 Mustang came out, the T-Bird, the Excursion, etc.

The remaining 1300 MY cars will sell for probably $15-20k over sticker. I suspect that there will be a fairly large market for a 550hp, warranteed, american supercar in the $150-$170 range.

Doody makes a good point when he lumps all the supercars together, but he leaves out a few things:

1. Mega-wealthy collectors will buy this AND all the others mentioned in Doody's post.

2. Doody neglected to mention the big, big, big money spent on Z06 conversions, Viper conversions, old muscle car markets ($150,000 Shelby Cobra Mustangs? $400,000 AC Shelby Cobras?) etc etc.

There are quite a few very wealthy Americans who would love to pony up the cash for a truly American supercar. I think 175/month will be met.

 

I talked to John Coletti the other day (head of SVT for ford) he is pretty happy that ALL of the cars will sell. THere is a accumulated wealth estimate of 15 trillion dollars in the hands of a 45-65 demographic and after all is said and done they are the target market for this car. They can remember the shelby heyday and want something they lusted after when they couldn't afford the toys. Now that they can.....

 

You lucky guy! Good man...great vision.

Funny story about him: I sent him my resume at the end of my enlistment in the Marine Corps. At a ripe old 22 years old, I figured that if I sent it to him via overnight FedEx, in a really special package, he might take notice.

Of course, after a few years of work experience, I realized that he probably gets hundreds of specially packaged and delivered resumes each day.

Ah well. It was fun dreaming!

 

What I think is going to be hilarious is if the 430 comes out before the GT. Ford worked so hard for the GT to beat the 360 and the next generation Ferrari is hot on the heals of the GT and will most likely outperform it. The stradale 430 definately will. Imagine the mags, ford gets beat after only 3 months on the market. That will drive the already tumbling prices down.

 

The Ford GT currently crushes the 360 Stradale. All they need to do is turn up the boost and they've got another 50hp (which would put it around 700hp). Forced induction + large displacement V8 = lots of power easily.

 

The Ford GT will crush a 430. With a few mods it will run with a MC12/Enzo.
The box in a Ford GT is duty rated 24/7 at 750hp. 750hp is easy with this motor.
The 430 is mechanically very elegant but The Ford GT is a hammer and we already know what happens when a hammer meets elegance.

 

Doody brought up some very good points - As others have also. It is inevitable that the GT price will drop. It is not sustainable. They will simply produce too many cars. They may avoid the problem to some degree with a hotter 06 model.



Nibbles. I love the Mr. Jones story. - So true. I wanted an Excursion for my wife. She needed an auto when the truck was introduced. The truck just "happened" to hit the market. I asked about buying one. I was interested in either the Expedition or Excursion. The salesman started to tell me a "story" how some of the Astros baseball players were amongst the first to buy them. - I did'nt even bother asking anymore questions about the Excursion. Why bother with a bs story like that. You could not even give those things away a year ago. Look at them now.

The first GT cars will have no problem finding the gotta have it buyers.

 

Is this real? I must be dreaming...sounds like the absolute best supercar ever made, guess we will have to find out when people post some driving impressions.

Hey AJ, when you get yours...i'm thinking Kenne Bell?

 

You guys say the GT has crushed the stradale. No it hasn't. It's not out yet. Some test mules with who knows what done to them have been tested but the general public has not recieved the car due to various reason I have heard. Weight savings problems blown up engines. Ford has already had serious problems with the 5.4 motors in the trucks and cars. What makes you think that you will even be able to get advertised horsepower much less 750 if they can't even get the car out to customers. This may be another ford spoof. They are notorious for doing this with their cars. The 96 Cobra mustang is a good example. It was rated at 320 HP and really only put out 280. Customers were so pissed they finally had to put exhaust and intakes on all customers cars who wanted them. I am a ford guy thru and thru(1982 5.0 stang was my first car and 1989 saleen vert was my college car) but Ford over forcasts and lies on a regular basis.
Basically I think those modular engines suck(4.6 and 5.4). I have raced and hopped up mustangs for a long time and those blocks are notoriously weak. We knew that stock 5.0 blocks were good to 600hp and stock 5.7 blocks were good to 750hp. The 4.6 and 5.4 were good for about 150 hp less, most of the time without mods to the block. Ferrari makes no promises. They along with porsche and lamborghini just deliver one world beating car after another. And there is no reason to believe they are not about to do the same again. Ford has only done this twice in history(cobra and ford GT40). I hope the GT is as good as advertised but it is starting to look a little fishy to me.

 

Yea, one think I am not worried about with the new GT is will it make less than it's rated horsepower. I believe the car is putting 550hp to the wheels (based on trap speed of 131 in the 1/4).

 

i sent a letter to warren buffett about a year ago. He and Charlie munger wrote me back in about a month. Id wright again, you never Know......