99SilverSS

Just a note around the Detroit area a few Ford dealerships that i drive by often have several T-Birds, Lighnings, SVT Foci, and 03 Cobra's. All for list price from what I've seen. We still have Chevy and Pontiac dealers here with new F-bodies for sale, although not very many.

Not checking sales figures or anything but it seems like the performance market cooled off around here. Of course that could be due to the early winter like temps we have recieved this month. But then again this is the Big 3's back yard and they never have trouble pushing models here. We have 20% of all Aztek's sold in the US, what does that say.....

As for the GTO GM is only going to import 18,000 - 25,000(if things go well) And I'll bet they sell everyone!

redzed

Is the Thunderbird really such a hot ticket? The local Ford dealer who has three of these heaps on his lot would probably disagree. (He's probably hoping that these cars will be dealer traded away before snowfall.)

Short of euphoric senior citizens, the sort of people who are burdened with excessive affluence and "American Graffiti" nostalgia, there isn't a TARGET MARKET for the T-bird. Soft-handling, boulavardier 2-seaters just don't sell long term. The 1955-1957 Thunderbird pretty much proved that point, as did the Chrysler TC. And by the way, portholes belong in ships and Buicks, not roadsters.

Yeah, there is always a market for cars with "novelty" appeal. I can't quite understand why anyone would shell out extra for "special" paint colors or trim bits, but people obviously do. Maybe the next "limited edition" Thunderbird can feature less chassis flex, more power and big cash incentives.

Did I mention the Mercury dealer down the road has four Marauders - they even have the "$2,000 rebate" listed on their windshields.

ProudPony

redzed,
Not wanting this to go into a flame war or anything, but exactly where is your local Ford Dealer? You don't have your location in your bio.

I certainly do not contest what you say about them having cars on the lot... but there are lots of factors that can influence purchasing. 99SilverSS made a very insightful comment about winter temps maybe having an influence on sales in his area - very likely too, IMO. All I can say is that all of the "small" rural dealers around me can't keep the T-birds on their lots - period. The large-volume dealers in the big cities (Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Charlotte, etc.) are keeping stock on the lot, maybe as you are seeing. If they receive 21 on a Friday and have sold 12 by the following Friday, I think that's still a pretty good sales rate even though you may still see 9 on the lot.

Another thing for all to remember about these kinds of cars is that they are "limited" - as in controlled build quantities. Ford has amortized the T-bird tooling, marketing, etc. on the basis of selling @25K units/yr - THAT"S ALL IT NEEDS TO SELL to be financially successful to the company. Similar deal for the Marauder, the Mach I (ALREADY sold out, BTW), etc. Vette production is similar in volume and GM is happy with it's sales rates. I see Vettes on almost every dealer's lot, and they even have rebates or 0% on them too now (here in NC anyways)... does that mean the Vette is a "sales flop" for GM - HARDLY.

My point here is that we can't let "massive numbers" cloud the intentions of the manufacturers when talking niche cars. A model doesn't have to sell 200k units/yr to be "successful".

Peace.

redzed

A volume of 25,000 units per year IS a massive volume for any 2-seat "sports car." The Corvette has historically been the best selling two-seater in the world, and its volumes rarely fall that far above this level. Porsche challenging performance and relatively low-cost composite body tooling have kept the Corvette with us for 5 decades. Considering that the Thunderbird lacks those characteristics, just like the '55-57 original, Ford's projected volumes just aren't sustainable. I hope Ford was able to payoff non-recurring design and tooling costs in the first year of Thunderbird production, but I doubt it.

I'm sitting in rural New England, and yes, and dealers will stock Corvettes throughout the spring and summer, but if these cars haven't dissappeared by early autumn, they probably be hanging around until the following May. No dealer around here will willingly keep any muscle car or sports car past September. I might be living in an economic black hole, but T-Birds lingering past mid-October, despite dealer discounting, isn't a good sign. By the way, the dealer with 3 Thunderbirds might be rural, but he moves about 300 new Fords each month.

guionM

Well, just for the record, there are plenty of Thunderbirds on the road here in SoCal (and the bay area as well). Most of the people I see driving tend to be people in their mid 40s or so, and I'd say about a third of them women.

Z284ever

I see alot of T-Birds in my area....but if you really, really want to see alot of T-Birds go to south Florida.

Especially areas with retired or semi retired snowbirds wintering in Florida, T-Birds seem to be as common as Camrys.

ProudPony

For those of you who were questioning how fast T-birds, Cobras, etc. are moving and dealers with them sitting on their lots...

check this out...

Must be a big difference between geographic regions, huh? I have not heard of anything like this around my area, but they are definitely moving well.

Probably don't sell many snow boards in Florida either, but take 'em to Colorado and $$$

redzed

Price Gouging on Cobras

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve heard from several readers, as well as a personal friend, about certain Ford dealerships tacking as much as $10,000 onto the sticker prices of 2003 Cobras as an "availability" charge for a limited production performance car. In our friend’s case, the dealership eventually lowered their "deal" to $3,500 over sticker, with the salesman stating that Ford was building "only 600 Cobras." In reality, the total production will be something in the 10,000-12,000 range. Fortunately, our friend was able to locate a Cobra in Atlanta for the actual sticker price. So although he had to drive nearly eight hours to pick up the car, he still saved thousands. One of our readers simply gave up and bought a GT instead of paying the up-charge. We’ve also heard that one dealer — in fact, the same one that refused to deal with our friend - is buying Cobras at sticker price from other dealers so they can add the $10,000 surcharge. And because each dealership is an independent business, there’s nothing Ford can do about it. So it’s buyer beware. If you’re fortunate enough to be in the market for what is perhaps the best performance Mustang ever produced from the factory, our advice is to avoid the greedy dealers and shop around for one that will sell at sticker, even if it means driving a few hours to get it.



This is proof positive that dealer franchise agreements should include a clause against gouging - abuse a consumer by charging over MSRP, loose your franchise.

This is also the reason I never considered the Mustang Cobra. Ford real needs to get rid of "SVT" dealers and make their performance carline universally available at ALL Ford Dealerships.

There again, maybe all of the corporate speak about "customer satisfaction" is just palaver.