Hollywood_North GT

Well, I guess most of us probably saw this one coming. Increase the price while likely decreasing the feature content.

TMSBrad

And worth every penny.

MilStang

I sure hope so!!

mr-mstng

:notnice:

The GT500 is not worth it IMO. Honestly, strip away Shelby's name and what have you? A mustang with a stronger engine. That's it. Ford is getting greedy since they can't sell any explorers anymore.

crazyhorse

BC, do you have a source for this quote? I'm getting "page cannot be displayed" from your link. edit: Nevermind, I got it to work.

Brad, any info on this from your source?

I don't necessarily disagree that it will be worth it. If this is true, however, I think HTT will be headed for a short stay with SVT. He has made several statements that are not being backed up. There will be a lot of SVT enthusiast leaving the SVT family for 2 primary reasons:

1. The car will be priced out of their market. The core SVT buyers are Mustang buyers that have gone that little bit extra to afford the top dog Mustang. The $50k and up buyers are typically Vette, BMW, Lexus, etc. buyers. Get above $50 and you are inching toward Z06 territory.

2. Faith in the SVT brand. They have taken away the other models (L, Focus). They have gone 2 years without any product. They promised (using the term loosely) several things that have slowly changed like twin screw SC, IRS, better brakes, heavy stitching on the the nice leather interior, price under $40k, and probably more that I am forgetting about.

I realize that we haven't seen the production car, its specs or its price yet, but, I honestly feel that if the car shown in January is that decontented and comes in over $45k, a large percentage of the SVT faithful will jump ship.

Eleanor Dreaming

Out of my range now, but I think worth it.

Off topic, kill and another members name in the quote. HMMMM Mods do have the power.

Route 66

I'm sorry Brad. I agree with you most of the time, but not on this one. How much $$$ is Shelby demanding for every car. This car is not worth excess of $45,000.

TMSBrad

I don't think it alienates anyone. In fact, I think it's perfect for the baby boomer buyers that were in their late teens/early twenties when the first Shelby GT500s were hitting the road and that now have disposable income.

I don't think it prices itself out of the core SVT enthusiast's range because I don't believe Ford/SVT/Team Mustang will allow there to be a 150+ horsepower gap in Mustang offerings for very long.

Finally, Hau isn't some "suit" in a corner office ordering his minions around. He's a genuine car guy, and a brilliant one at that. He understands cars and car enthusiasts. He understands performance and value. John Coletti was the right guy to start SVT. He brought the muscle Mustang back from the grave. Now Hau is the right man for the job, refining the SVT brand and reaching a larger audience without leaving grease monkeys and gearheads out of the mix.

dustindu4

It is to a Shelby collector. The sticker price is immaterial, since every dealer will be marking it up 10-20K anyway. If somebody's crying about an extra 5 grand, they couldn't afford it to begin with.

TMSBrad

The 425-hp Dodge Charger SRT8 is expected to start at $39,000. The GT500 will be in the 450-480 range (and probably underrated at that, reference 600-hp Ford GT). Certainly the GT500 prices itself out of my checkbook, but I think the MSRP is in alignment with the market. Ford pays guys good money to figure that kind of stuff out.

mr-mstng

Brad, the problem I see with the pricing though is that they won't sell nearly as many. You only have to look at Saleen and seen how many supercharged Saleens they have sold. The number is in the hundreds, not thousands. Now, granted Shelby's name has a tremedous amount of marketing potential, but when we consider what else can be had for the same or close to that amount, its not looking as attractive as it did. Just like the Ford GT when it first came demaded sky high prices, but quickly lost its luster, and prices have dropped, and are getting closer to the real free market value of the car.

Also, I see Ford taking some of the profit away from dealers on this. Ford saw that the dealers were going to charge at least as much, if not more and simply upped the price to pocket more for themselves, and less for the dealer. The dealer can still mark up the price, but only to what the customer is willing to pay.

FinlayZJ

$45,000+ with mark-ups of 10-20K will inch this car very close to Z06 territory. I know GT's in Atlanta fetched 10K over sticker, and i'm sure they went higher than that in places like California. I can't imagine what very limited numbers, and the Shelby name will fetch.

$45,000 doesn't sound that bad for the car. But ADM will kill this thing. I guess it will help Ford's bottom line, but it just got priced way out of my budget.

crazyhorse

How many of those Baby Boomers are currently SVT customers. How many of them do you think will continue to buy these cars once the Shelby name drops off them. This is SVTs first car in 3 model years. I think they need to sell to their core group of buyers first, then bring out the car the baby boomers want.

If they are upping the price a LITTLE to allow the goodies to stay (like the show car interior, better brakes, etc.), then I am on board with that. If the price goes up and content down, I think it is a mistake. It'll have me considering something else...and I'm MR. GT500.

mr-mstng

THE man has spoken!

MilStang

Now I agree with this! The price would be alright with me if the content stays, if it drops then I will have to carefully consider where my money is going.

I love the car and can afford one at MSRP, if they jack up the price another 10-15K then forget it. The government doesn't pay me that much....unless I want to take a few of those one year tours in Iraq and not drive the car for two years.

:notnice:

bullittman

Food for thought......HTT may have been encompassing the Vert in the $45. K figure

Shelby Roadster

I think you guys could be over analyzing this. The 45K figure could be the high end of the spectrum for the convertible, and pricing could still be on par with earlier guestimates for the coupe.

I'm going to get one at sticker regardless, as what other 4 seat car is available with 450+ HP in that price range in a convertible?

NONE!

CrossBoss

You know, after thinking about it for a while, 45K plus gas gussler tax plus personal property tax plus sales tax plus the other little charges are going to make this car pretty much available to only to mid level corporate managers and higher up in the food chain. Let me consider what car I like the best and where I want to go.

My favorite Shelby is the early 66 model. This car is the most functional of all - truely it has most of what the 65 R model has, but has a detuned (somewhat) motor and a back seat. Sweet - a race car for the street. At the 67 model year they started tacking on non-functional stuff and the car went from performance centered to style centered. The Shelby name was now a brand name to sell restyled cars at a higher profit margin. This is what is happening now. I am not impressed too much. If you will allow me a little sarcasm, I will illustrate my point. I am thinking of selling bathroom tissue. But how? Well, I think I will take a bigger "performance" roll and tack on some fake scoops and couple of rally style headlights and call it "TP 350." I could cut a marketing agreement with CS and as long as he agreed, I could cut him a check for every roll I sold. Somehow I think I can do better than this.

Well, it looks as if I want a car like the 66 GT 350 or maybe the 70 Boss 302, I will have to build it myself. For the cumulative cost of the 07 GT 500 I could have (If I were careful with my budget):

A great base GT and add:

ported heads
forged internals
a turbocharger
a 6 speed trans

Fang performance hood and shaker
Shinoda chin and rear spoiler
mild paint and graphics (I'm thinking along the lines of a modernized Mach 1 style)
perhaps a mild duck tail and black out rear

MM's IRS and front suspension setup
Upgraded wheels and tires

Nothing fake tacked on here (unless I can't make the Fang shaker functional). Of course at this stage this is just a thought experiment, but with a car like this I could walk a GT 500 in just about any situation. I could show up at Mustang meets and perform search and shut down missions against GT500s. Heck, that thing could probably shut down a lot more expensive cars than that.

The down side, if there is one, is that my car wouldn't be a "Shelby." To that I guess I would reply that why do I need a "Shelby" when I could have a perfectly good image of a "Shelby" in my rear view mirror? Just a thought.

MilStang

Hmm... didn't think about the vert. I agree that if that encompasses the vert in that price range then so much the better for me. Poor Crispy though is dying for the vert.

crazyhorse

good point. i better call back and cancel that C6 order.