Went browsing on another unnamed Mustang forum, and found that orders for 2015s will begin in May, with production tentatively slated to begin August 11th. The tentative end of production for '14s is said to be June 20th (seems like they would need more than just 6 weeks to retool for an entirely new model?).

So, figure if production of '14s ends in June, maybe speculate order banks would close around April?

Those in the know (you know who you are), feel free to put more solid info in this thread as it becomes available to you.

 

My sales manager and friend at my local Ford dealership thought order banks for the '15 wouldn't be available till July or August.

 

IMO that would be way to late to start orders. The OP's dates sound about right. To that point, I don't think they are retooling the line for the new car. I think it is already (or will be soon) set up and the current mustang line will become something else.

 

If I am understanding you correctly you are saying that they are going to cease production in the current Flat Rock assembly plant? I can't see that happening as this article states they are retooling the plant.
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/fo...ang-73252.html
It seems they have already started retooling the plant. Not sure how they do that with current production continuing.

 

I found this pic and info online and thought it was interesting. The Fusion is built on the same production line as the Mustang. You can see 2 Stangs behind the Fusion. So I guess retooling a line to build a different car is not that complicated and can be done while another car line exists on that line.

 

Whoa that's really interesting. I know back in the day the Camaro and Firebird were built on the same line mixed in with each other which I thought was odd enough, but not so out there since they were the same car with a different body so the workers would have the same job regardless of which car it was.

I am *really* surprised to see two completely different cars on the same line, that seems complicated for the workers. Any other pics of this?

Very cool, thanks for sharing.

 

Back in the early 2000s my wife and I visited the Jaguar factory in England. They built XK8 coupes and convertibles on one line and XJ sedans on another in the same factory. This was a factory that was redesigned after Ford bought Jaguar. They built both left and right-hand drive cars in the same lines. The XJ sedans were standard and long rear door models. The doors came off the cars early in the process and disappeared up somewhere. Later they came back together with the correct cars further along in the process. It was quite amazing.

 

From another forum:

06/20/2014 - 2014MY Mustang - Job Last Date
05/13/2014 - 2015MY Mustang - Order Bank Opens
06/12/2014 - 2015MY Mustang - Scheduling Begins
08/11/2014 - 2015MY Mustang - Job #1 Date

* Per Friday's Ford Fleet Distribution News Bulletin

 

Wow. 6/20... The end of an era! :*(
*sniff*

 

Before the Fusion was built there the Flatrock plant was shared by the Mustang and the Mazda 6.

 

Ahhh. That makes sense now. I was thinking they'd use a different section of the plant or something.

 

That's kinda what MM said

It is sad, but S550 more than makes up for it in my book

 

I am going to wait a few years to get in on the S550 era. Just started enjoying the S197's.

 

I bought this book recently at the book store in Dubai.

 

Great book. Donald Farr is a local to me. Cool guy. And a HUGE car guy (obviously lol).

 

Ford can build two different model cars on the same line because it is a flexable manufacturing plant. After the Mazda 6 left and before Before the Fusion came on board the plant was building exclusively Mustangs for a few years.

 

There isn't much retooling to be done for main production as the car is still very similar in shape and style.

I would think most of the retooling needed would be in body shop. And yes, retooling can be done in a short amount of time. Body shop can build a surplus of bodies and shut down before main production in order to have more time to retool.

 

I used to work at a Ford stamping plant, and we would often see new body styles being made well before the release date of the vehicle. Usually we'd see a few panels here and there...probably testing things out. Then we'd see a much larger run closer to the beginning build dates. They were able to get new dies in and out pretty quick, it seemed.

Also, the summer shutdown should provide enough time for all the plants to get things switched over. Nothing much ever happened at my plant during those times, but I guess some other plants might need the time.