Just received this from my zone rep, sure doesn't look good for about 7,000 GT buyers.


Subject: Mustang Retail Order Dealer Review Meetings - Action Required by April 22


Understanding that the dealers with retail orders may not earn enough allocation to cover their existing retail order bank, we will not be able to satisfy every retail order in the order bank as 2005MY vehicles.

Current Situation

· There are currently 13,362 Retail Mustang orders in the order bank. 12,537 of those orders are GTs (94%).

· For May production, there are only approximately 3,000 GTs being produced of the total production of 10,000.

· In the June through Balance-out period, we are currently forecasting that 30% of the production will be GTs and the revised forecasted total production number is approximately 22,410 units. Therefore, we expect to build approximately 6,700 GTs in the June - BO period.

o Note that the June BO forecast has been reduced by 3,500 units or 14% based on production losses.

· There will be no price protection for unscheduled '05MY retail orders that are not built in the '05MY.

 

Well it was obvious that it would come down to this at some point. The thing I really just can't understand is even in the face of very high demand for the GT, Ford has maintained the 7 V6 to 3 GT ratio all along. I mean it doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at all of the dealers that have quite a few V6's and no GT's on their lots to understand that they should have adjusted the build ratio.

The only reason I can sort of see that may have caused this is that component availability of things like drive train and motors may have forced them to limit the number of GT's that they could produce. That is to say that they initially underforcast how many they would be building and could not increase the number after the fact.

If I end up being one of the people that doesn't get an '05 it won't bother me all that much other than I will have to get a different color. The lack of price protection is a little bit of BS though, it puts the onus on the dealer to "make it up" to customers that did not get an '05.

 

Paul, please excuse my ignorance. But if there are 12,537 GT's on order, and Ford is building 3,000 in May and 6,700 more through BO that would come to 9,700 GT's. Then only 2,837 orders would not be filled, right? Sorry, I am trying to be optimistic.

 

It's more than just a commodities thing....I heard the ratio of more V6's to GTs. is to be within, and to meet the government CAFE standards on gas mileage....even the mile or two or three difference from the GT to the V6 makes all the difference when meeting the CAFE standards...anyway that's my understanding of the situation

 

Just because V-6's are stacked up on the lots down south, doesn't mean they are everywhere.

 

I agree with your calculations, but I bet they are building GT's for dealer stock for the areas which have higher allocations. I know it's a bummer, but that might help explain the difference in the #'s.

I personally think they should build customer orders first, but then I don't agree with alot of things Ford has done.

 

For Going__Grey: It's a commodities issue not a "oh we should build more" decision. Ford can only make so many V8 engines and they have more then 1 vehicle line using them. The F-150 for example is Ford's best seller and they have the same V8 engine. There are other parts then the engine but that is the biggest limiting factor as I understand it today.

Also... V6 Mustangs are not everywhere. As it is there are virtually no Mustangs up here in the Northwest to begin with.

 

We have plenty of V-6 Mustangs here in the Northeast. I will send you a few and in return send me my GT in trade

 

The whole thing doesn't make any sense. As of April 1st, 2005 the March production results are: 17,926 mustang where built. They're not slowing the production, the've ramped the production.......so we can estimate that 18,000 units will be built each month untill August.

 

Man I hope I can get mine, or else we're going to be forced to buy something else. It's even worse that black may not be an option for '06.

 

They will offer black; has there EVER been a year when they didn't?

 

This is way too depressing to be a Sticky. You should have to search for news like this. Thanks for keeping us informed Paul. Can't decide if my fallback '06 color is Windveil Blue or Titanium. It's hard living on the bubble...

 

Has there been any official word on the '06 changes?
Did the color thing ever get comfimed? I know it has been a rumor around here for a long time, but has Ford ever said the colors will change in '06?

Man, I hope they use titanium/tungston, but I am skeptical until I hear it from the horse's mouth (so-to-speak).

 

So does, "action required by April 22nd" mean that sales managers have to figure out who to give the bad news to by then?

 

Well, that explains why the ERL no longer knows about my nearly five month old order. I bet the dealer cancelled it out from under me and hasn't bothered to tell me yet. Oh well, it was never going to get built anyway with their allocation which is why I reordered through another dealer. Now I just hope the other order gets built, I'm not sure that I'm willing to wait for an '06.

 

for the guys who get left behind (their order no get filled) do they get recompensated with their deposit? or do they mereley get first dibs on the 06? hmm.... i wonder whats gonna happen

 

Man the pot is full and even overflowing for the Mustang, but for some other cars they can't even fill up a plate.

I'm also wondering if this is true.
I have too many things too worry about, this is really depressing news knowing Ford is going to dissapoint a few thousand potential buyers.
I almost hate the fact they make such a great car. :angry:

 

They will offer black; has there EVER been a year when they didn't?
[/b][/quote]
'72, '73, '74 & '76 according to the timeline.

 

I checked on my order last weekend and they said it would roll over (or be resubmitted) as an 06 order if need be. I talked with their guy that was juggling the Mustang orders and he was still confident that it would be built as an 05. Nothing to do but wait and see at this point.

 

I checked on my order last weekend and they said it would roll over (or be resubmitted) as an 06 order if need be. I talked with their guy that was juggling the Mustang orders and he was still confident that it would be built as an 05. Nothing to do but wait and see at this point.
[/b][/quote]

Your dealer is full of me thinks. I remember a thread on here awhile back that discussed 05/06 rollover. I believe the concensus is that the order gets dumped when they switch the MY. It would be virtually impossible for an 05 to rollover directly to the 06 because a new order guide will be issued along with new options and new colors. If you can place an order for an 06 also so you have a place in line at least incase your dealer is giving you the run around so you don't abandon ship.