I've been calling different dealers about getting a Cobra and you can't believe the BS. I was told, $80,000 by one dealer, $65,000 by another. I was told that you can't order the one you want, you just have to show up and they will auction them off. (the ones they ordered). Bidding will start at 10K over sticker. Yada, yada, yada.

If I could get a dealer to order one and they would be up-front about the rape charge, I would order it. The owners of the dealerships are buying them and then they will do what they did with the t-bird. I almost bought one of those, but was so disgusted by a 10K rape charge that I decided to pass.

My GT is still pretty nice, and I don't have to buy one right off.

 

Some dealerships have gotten offers for $120,000 for a Shelby. I know of one dealer who got an offer for MSRP + $30,000. It was from another dealer with less allocation, so they'll sell that one at an even higher premium to someone else.

There's no one to blame but the people who pay the premiums. Ford can't do anything about it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TheMustangSource @ April 17, 2006, 5:02 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>

There's no one to blame but the people who pay the premiums. Ford can't do anything about it.
[/b][/quote]

Ford could commit to manufacturing more and change the supply curve. IF FORD wanted to. I belive it is intentional: a 'halo' car. Think of all the free press about the outrageous prices. "Wow, the car must be really good if someone would pay ..."

 

Manufacturing more isn't that simple with all the MAFE and CAFE laws and such.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TheMustangSource @ April 17, 2006, 2:02 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Some dealerships have gotten offers for $120,000 for a Shelby. I know of one dealer who got an offer for MSRP + $30,000. It was from another dealer with less allocation, so they'll sell that one at an even higher premium to someone else.

There's no one to blame but the people who pay the premiums. Ford can't do anything about it.
[/b][/quote]
I must respectfully disagree with this, Brad. As gmichael states above, Ford COULD alter the manufacturing and supply end of the chain. There are also multitudinous legal and contractual ways Ford could penalize dealerships who are found to be gouging customers. Ford corporate needs to get this under control, because frankly, they are not a financially healthy company, and with dwindling domestic market share, they can ill-afford the negative publicity this kind of nonsense generates.

Here in Canada, Ford dealers are getting around the fixed MSRP law with respect to our allotment of GTs, by buying the car themselves - putting 10 miles or so on it - then selling it as a "used" car. As a "used" car, they can charge whatever they want, and in some cases are charging $285K for them. So if dealerships are willing to find ways to work around their contract with Ford, why shouldn't Ford do the same?

Too many dealers are scumbags.

 

Let me begin by saying that I think dealers who charge huge markups on this car are out of line. But I think it is impotant to keep in mind that many dealers are getting unsolicited offers from customers for $XXK over MSRP. What's a dealer to do? Say no thanks, keep your money, I will charge you MSRP? Plus, when a dealer gets these offers or hears other getting these offers, they tend to assume that's the going market rate. In short, I'm just saying that some of these markups are not just dealer greed.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dswhalen @ April 17, 2006, 4:48 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I've been calling different dealers about getting a Cobra...
[/b][/quote]
Have you done business with any of the dealers you've called before?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rpretzel @ April 17, 2006, 3:27 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Let me begin by saying that I think dealers who charge huge markups on this car are out of line. But I think it is impotant to keep in mind that many dealers are getting unsolicited offers from customers for $XXK over MSRP. What's a dealer to do? Say no thanks, keep your money, I will charge you MSRP? Plus, when a dealer gets these offers or hears other getting these offers, they tend to assume that's the going market rate. In short, I'm just saying that some of these markups are not just dealer greed.
[/b][/quote]
The reason they're getting those offers is because for several months now those same dealerships have been widely claiming that they will be charging huge AMVs.

Consumers respond to the manufacturers' prices, not the other way around. No consumer walks into a dealership and says, "Hey, you know what, MSRP just isn't enough for that car! Tell ya what, pardner, I'm gonna give you a bazillion dollars for it cause I have too much money and it's burning a hole in my pocket!"

You could sell tickets to that one! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/popcorn2.gif[/img]

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rofl2.gif[/img]

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BC_Shelby @ April 17, 2006, 4:39 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
The reason they're getting those offers is because for several months now those same dealerships have been widely claiming that they will be charging huge AMVs.

Consumers respond to the manufacturers' prices, not the other way around. No consumer walks into a dealership and says, "Hey, you know what, MSRP just isn't enough for that car! Tell ya what, pardner, I'm gonna give you a bazillion dollars for it cause I have too much money and it's burning a hole in my pocket!"

You could sell tickets to that one! [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/popcorn2.gif[/img]

[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rofl2.gif[/img]
[/b][/quote]

Yes, I agree, but if you were selling widgets for $100 and all your competitors were selling them for $200, wouldn't you think strongly about raising your prices? The thing is, there are too many people out there with money to burn and are willing to pay high markups. The blame has to be set, at least partially, on these people.

 

Talked with my dealer and the first two GT500's they are getting in are allready sold. 20K over MSRP that is, glad to see that the most powerful factory mustang ever is also the most overpriced. What a shame that most of these fine cars will be garaged and not driven like they should be. Just so they can be sold at Barret Jacko*#'s for an arm and a leg. Let's just hope for a Boss with the 5.4L NA in it to come out soon.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Xanadu @ April 17, 2006, 7:11 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Talked with my dealer and the first two GT500's they are getting in are allready sold. 20K over MSRP that is, glad to see that the most powerful factory mustang ever is also the most overpriced. What a shame that most of these fine cars will be garaged and not driven like they should be. Just so they can be sold at Barret Jacko*#'s for an arm and a leg. Let's just hope for a Boss with the 5.4L NA in it to come out soon.
[/b][/quote]
If the BOSS comes out (I think it will), it will come out after the Shelby hype dies down. Then it (the BOSS), will be subject to AMVs as the dealers will sell them as rare and hard to get also. IT happened with the Bullitt, MAch 1, TErminator and all the Cobra Rs. Eventually they all came back to normal.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BC_Shelby @ April 17, 2006, 5:09 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
I must respectfully disagree with this, Brad. As gmichael states above, Ford COULD alter the manufacturing and supply end of the chain.[/b][/quote]
Ford makes as many Mustang GTs as Uncle Sam will allow. MAFE is Model Average Fuel Economy. Based on its class, Mustang has to meet MAFE standards, from the V6 all the way up to the GT500. If Ford could make 80% GTs they would. The profit margin and demand are both higher. I still see more V6s on lots than GTs--the GTs just sell better. But the government dictates what Ford can do.

Mass-producing cars is a game of inches, ounces, and pennies.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TheMustangSource @ April 17, 2006, 5:53 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Ford makes as many Mustang GTs as Uncle Sam will allow. MAFE is Model Average Fuel Economy. Based on its class, Mustang has to meet MAFE standards, from the V6 all the way up to the GT500. If Ford could make 80% GTs they would. The profit margin and demand are both higher. I still see more V6s on lots than GTs--the GTs just sell better. But the government dictates what Ford can do.

Mass-producing cars is a game of inches, ounces, and pennies.
[/b][/quote]
I'm not arguing that particular point - I've no doubt you're right. What I'm saying is that dealerships exist at the pleasure of Ford Motor Co., not the other way around. There are many, many tactics and coercisions Ford corporate could employ to "convince" dealers that gouging on the Shelby will only serve to further tarnish Ford's reputation in the long run. Sure a dealership might make a killing on a Shelby, but what happens when the feeding frenzy ends, and many other customers feel alienated and take their business elsewhere? That's short-term thinking. You alluded to it yourself: Selling Shelbys won't save this company.

It was Ford that decided whether or not the Shelby would go to SVT dealers only, or to all dealers, or to "preferred" dealers, so I don't buy this impotency argument when it comes to cracking down on dealers.

Same thing with GM. I just read a story a couple of months ago (in fact, I think I posted it) about how GM corporate plans to close a large number of it's dealerships.

Ultimate power lays with the corporate headquarters, not the dealerships, franchised notwithstanding.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Xanadu @ April 17, 2006, 5:11 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Talked with my dealer and the first two GT500's they are getting in are allready sold. 20K over MSRP that is, glad to see that the most powerful factory mustang ever is also the most overpriced. What a shame that most of these fine cars will be garaged and not driven like they should be. Just so they can be sold at Barret Jacko*#'s for an arm and a leg. Let's just hope for a Boss with the 5.4L NA in it to come out soon.
[/b][/quote]
These "speculators" may be in for a rude awakening. I doubt the Shelby will be worth much for a very long time (think four decades or so). On the other hand, if Ford itself goes under, then they will certainly increase in value much faster.

Hmmmm, do these people know something we don't, I wonder? [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/33.gif[/img]

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Xanadu @ April 17, 2006, 8:11 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Talked with my dealer...
... 20K over MSRP...
[/b][/quote]
Would you think there is the slightest possibility that all the dealer talk whether it is $20K or $80K over MSRP might be a lot of smoke, and perhaps when the time comes some might think that a $10K premium might be a bargain and a favor?

Bullitts, Mach 1s, and Cobras had up to $10K AMVs. Some buyers were tickled pink when the AMVs were "lowered" to under $2,500. The most I paid for any of them was $1,200 over invoice that being the Mach 1, the other two I did better and each of the three were bought at different dealers when they were hot. All of them had rebates when it was all said and done.

Dealers can talk and claim all they want. They want everyone to think the GT500 and the Apocalypse is one and the same. The irony is most of them lack information, knowledge, and many of them will only get to see the GT500s in pictures we show them.

Some of you need to get it in your heads these people lie for a living and cash in on weaknesses.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TheMustangSource @ April 17, 2006, 4:02 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
There's no one to blame but the people who pay the premiums. Ford can't do anything about it.
[/b][/quote]

Pull the plug on local dealers and have all dealers be direct employees of Ford, ie, Ford owns all dealers. No more haggling, no more markup, just sell cars!

Wishful thinking, heh.

 

If I owned a dealership and was told that despite offers I'd received for $120,000 on the Shelby, that I'd have to sell it for $40,000. I'd sue the crap outta Ford.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rpretzel @ April 17, 2006, 4:20 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Yes, I agree, but if you were selling widgets for $100 and all your competitors were selling them for $200, wouldn't you think strongly about raising your prices? The thing is, there are too many people out there with money to burn and are willing to pay high markups. The blame has to be set, at least partially, on these people.
[/b][/quote]
Sure, if your competitor is selling for more, why shouldn't you? That's true to an extent. Except that there's another way to look at it. You give your customer a good deal when your competitor is butt raping his customers, and guess what? You get remembered as the "fair deal guy" and future business almost inevitably will come back to you, not your competitor. Too many dealers are not only slimy, they're stupid, too.

As to the "too many people out there with money to burn" argument, I would disagree on that one. I'll be interested - VERY interested - to see hard numbers on just how many people ACTUALLY pay $20K or more over sticker when push comes to shove. Many people understand that this is a Mustang we're talking about here. A very nice Mustang, but a Mutang nonetheless. There comes a point where a buyer decides that this car has passed a reasonable price, and chooses to buy something else.

If you made your fortune the old fashioned way - through hard work - then you know the value of money. And if you understand that concept, chances are you won't be wasting that hard earned money by paying ridiculous markups on a car that will be selling to regular folks at MSRP in another year.

Sure you'll get a percentage of folks willing to buy into the hype and buy the car right away, at whatever ridiculously inflated price dealers choose to charge, but I believe these people are relatively small in number. And when you disqualify the people who will never get financed on an AMV-riddled car, how many people does that really leave at the end of the day?

Don't believe all the hype. When you really analyze it, it doesn't add up. Be patient and buy one of these cars next year...or the year after. Any bugs will be ironed out by then, too. And you'll have the added satisfaction of laughing at all the people who paid WAY too much for them. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/04.gif[/img]



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TheMustangSource @ April 17, 2006, 6:39 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
If I owned a dealership and was told that despite offers I'd received for $120,000 on the Shelby, that I'd have to sell it for $40,000. I'd sue the crap outta Ford.
[/b][/quote]
Brad, brad, brad. Nobody would be OFFERING you $120,000 for the car in the first place if it was widely reported that the car was to sell for MSRP and not a dime more.

This is not a chicken and egg argument here. The dealers heard the name "Shelby" and chose to immediately ramp up the hype by telling people that the car is "rare" and "valuable" and a "collector's item" and will "lay golden eggs if you talk nice to it" and by immediately stating that it will be auctioned off to the highest bidder or sold for $20K over sticker. Kinda funny, don't you think, when you stop to consider that most car dealers don't know jack about this car in the first place.

I agree that it's the public that feeds this frenzy, but once again, I think hype and reality will soon go separate ways with this car once it hits the market.

 

They must be selling these by the pound. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/04.gif[/img]

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(RandyB @ April 17, 2006, 6:57 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
They must be selling these by the pound. [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/04.gif[/img]
[/b][/quote]
[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/lol.gif[/img] True dat.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BC_Shelby @ April 17, 2006, 8:53 PM) Quoted post</div><div class='quotemain'>
Nobody would be OFFERING you $120,000 for the car in the first place if it was widely reported that the car was to sell for MSRP and not a dime more.[/b][/quote]That's not capitalism.