I was kind of thinking that Ford was a bit premature with the release of the 2015 Mustang, kind of losing a great deal of PR momentum due to the yawning gap between release -- 12/2013 -- and actual availability of real cars ~ summer/2014. The initial hoopola has quickly died down due to lack of any further info, any actual test drives/reports, much less the car itself. The dearth of any new real info on this forum seems to confirm my hunch, mostly being a bunch of cell phone pictures of the same same autoshow cars again and again.

Should Ford have waited a bit and waged a bit tighter intro and PR campaign, perhaps in concert with the release anniversary of the original Stang (4/17/2014, IIRC)?

Why did Ford release the 2015 Stang (info) so early?

Will this kill S197 sales for an extended period until the S550 is actually available, leaving a huge sales gap in the interim?

Personally I think Ford was a bit premature releasing the S550 before being actually available. They should have done a show car teaser in 2013 to keep interest on a boil and then release the real deal in concert with a humongous 50th anniversary PR extravaganza in 4/2014, followed quickly by actual magazine tests and then the car itself for sale soon after that.

 

It's giving them time to go back to the designers and have them do a better job on the Front End ...

 

I think it is time to create some fresh hype with new info ,new underbody pictures, some test results etc. Even if there just on preproduction models.Need to stir up the legions of the believers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The only thing that's been released is the external body and some early engine shots, and a few of the available options.

Still lots of the car left unseen, especially as a production version.

 

Unfortunately this is becoming the norm in the car industry. It's kind of like the Christmas shopping season coming earlier every year.

Once upon a time, you would hear about a new year model just before its November/December release to the showrooms.

Fast forward to today and BMW (the manufacturer who I work for) has already given us our first production numbers for a few of the redesigns and new models for 2015. (the I3, I8, and M series). These will all hit showrooms in late April /May as 2015 models.

The funniest thing is that the public actually feeds on this. I have people coming in already asking if we have year end close out specials on the 2014 models and it's only late February.

 

well do you?

 

Perhaps it was orchestrated this way to test the waters and see how the masses warm up to the new design. Gives them time to back pedal and refine if really necessary. Those who don't warm up to it will be buying remaining '14's which have run their course in production numbers i've heard. There isn't a large number of 14's sitting unsold perhaps.
Just my hunches.

 

They did this for me, so I can have plenty of time to save up :-)

 

Convertibles...

 

i saw a vert at the auto show and didn't care for it much but the white one looks nice.

 

The long wait for any new info is getting OLD! They need to release something new soon!

 

I don't think Ford had much of a choice. Pics were starting to leak every place and the car is being featured in the Need for Speed movie. They had to move before the car was old news in order to be able to command the attention of the media like they did and have it all over every media outlet for an entire day.

 

Yeah, at best I think Ford was sort of forced into a premature unveiling of the 2015, though I would have held out a bit more were I King of Ford. As in other aspects of life, the tease is often better than the actual reveal and I think Ford should have played it out a bit longer before, well, letting it all show.

 

Oop, multi post, please ignore.

 

Since the actual production of the 2015 Mustang is so far off into year 2014, I am more interested to see what kind of special edition Mustangs Ford will produce off of the 2014 model.

 

When I attended the Dearborn reveal event, supposedly the long lead time was to give time for the hype to build, according to one of the marketing people. They expected the awareness and excitement to build by the sharing of web content over the coming months. Whether that is the only reason or not, I am not sure.

I think those of us who follow this car more closely than a typical buyer are likely more bored at this point.

 

Bored. Yes. <yawn>

 

Amen!!! If only it were possible in such a short time frame.

 

Most of the car shows across the US seem to be between January and April (major exception being LA). I think their goal was to have show cars for people to look at in person this winter prior to orders in summer and on sale in fall. If they waited till NYC in April there would have have been a limited opportunity to show it off to the masses in person before on sale date. Personally I think their marketing strategy is sound. With some hoopla in April and the release of specs and possibly a gt350 to bring news to to the model line just before summer they have a fairly constant stream of information to keep it popping up. As for the s197 I think the effect is minimal, there has been enough news and anticipation that sight seen or not those that wanted to wait we're going to anyway. If anything the crowd who prefer the old model now will go out and buy.

 

Nicely put.

I believe if Ford had waited any longer someone somewhere would have stolen their thunder and leaked a photo of an almost production ready S550. Heck, we had shots of the all-black prototype on a 2-post ramp and then the shots at the test track. Car and Driver also tried to spoil the party by showing thinly veiled photoshops on the 4th December, one day before the official reveal. So, the only way Ford could avoid further leaks was to reveal the car early. This gave them the advantage of being able to show the car at a number of car shows this year as well as being able to drip feed stuff to us. I'm expecting/hoping much more will be announced in April at the 50th events, as well as the NY show on the 17th. It also means prototypes could lose much of the camo, which must mean easier testing on the road.

Personally, I'd have loved for them to have been able to keep it a secret until April 17th but, sadly, in this age of the internet, I guess that was going to be pretty impossible.

I'm sure they're also gauging reaction to the styling........sure the front end seems to attract the most flack (I like it though). Will this change before the first production cars hit the streets? I doubt it. But it may well impact the refresh in MY18 or whenever it is. It also gives people plenty of time to warm up to the design and, if they don't like it, they can still buy an S197. Ford wins with a sale either way.

At least it's not been a long drawn out 3 or 4 years like the Camaro fans had to wait, from the first 5th gen concept to getting their cars on the road!