Ford didn't care but alot of mustang people cared. Pretty much to the tune of "eat crap and die you blue oval morons" to put it nicely in a subdued sort of way. Which I suppose was enough to save it.

Still though a good untouched foxbody can bring in some decent cash so it must have been pretty popular. I dont see a gaggle of fox body V8 cars going for 50 or 60 cents in the paper or in online traders. I've seen more than a few go for more than 10k. You dont get that kind of asking price for a mere appliance.

 

Originally Posted by KrisH
I've had my 05 GT for almost 5 months. Every morning when I get into it and fire it up, it puts a smile on my face.

I've had a Bullitt for the last 4 years, and I still feel the same way. There's just something about them that you can't put on paper

I've had my 95TA for 10years now and I still feel that way.

People seem to forget the Fbody's outsold the mustang a few times in the 90s and that includes the 4th gen. Only once GM pulled support and failed to have a suitable platform ready for a new FCar did the Mustang start to pull away in sales.

The Fcar was selling enough to remain profitable even when it was killed. GM wasnt having to slap $5000 rebates on them to sell either. Most of the time you were lucky to get $500 on the Trans Am/Z28.

Props to Ford for making a nice affordable RWD coupe but do you think sales would be up 47% if it werent for a new design with no real competitor? I really hope it continues to do well though, brings us that much closer to a new Camaro.

 

I think the Mustang is doing so well, also, is b/c we(they, Americans) want a U.S. maker to succeed. Something they can get behind that can compete with what else is offered, in all those terms stated:
Looks/style(visual impact, like being seen in it)
Sound(sometimes overlooked, enhances mood of the Look)
build/material quality(feel)
performance(smooth/"solid", enough for most, room for improvent for the rest)
The Mustang has "It"....
What's always endeared people to cars, the Old Mustang had "it", so the new one capitalized on "It"...
The Old Camaro had "It" too...so I hope the New one will have enough of that essence to do the same...

 

No. Good news for the Mustang and Ford. The Mustang has become thru excellent marketing and a design that has not basically changed in over 40 yrs an American Icon pure and simple. The Camaro and Firebird have not. For those that feel if a Camaro/Chevy Coupe comes back and it too would sell 150K a year are dreaming.

 

All of the sudden, the return of the Camaro doesn't just seem like an absurd internet phenomenon

Coming from a former Ford guy, I'm glad.

 

Ummm, call me cooky, but didn't the same management wake-up in 2000 "spotting" Ford over 150k units then too? (218,525 Mustangs vs. 45,417 Camaros)
And STILL they decided to kill the F-car instead of INVESTING IN IT'S REDESIGN to meet new crash standards and governmental regulations.
Allow me to oversimplify the same quote...
"After moving my developmental cash flow in 1999 from cars to the more profitable truck and SUV market to develop the new GMT-platform, I have now decided that it stinks when..."I wake up every day knowing that I am [still] spotting Ford 150,000 to 200,000 units." "

Yeah - that's more like it.

So here we are 5 years later, and GM is finally deciding to spend the money to redesign the platform... as they should have done in 1999/2000... and saved everybody this hideous hiatus... while Ford has sold almost 700,000 units in the last 5 years to boot.

 

going to have to agree.mustang and fbody buyers are different.though they both had rwd and v8s they appealed to different people.


just because mustang sales are strong doesnt mean a competitor from GM will be.things have a way of repeating themselves.


i hope GM can get it right this time.

 

I was looking at both Mustangs and Camaros, so not every mustang and fbody buyer is different. Hell, I used to own a Mustang (hence my user name.)

 

Congratulations to Ford!

I really like the direction they have been taking in the last few years!

 

This will be the true test to see if GM has really turned around. If GM continues to sit on with their thumb up their a@@es and ignore the Mustang, then they have surely lost touch with the reality of the automotive market. Time will tell if GM still has a pulse and will build us a Camaro.

 

First off - kudos to Ford with the new Mustang. It's a great car and is making a lot of buyers happy. But I also agree with this...

And I completely disagree with this:

Come again? Camaro not an icon? Baloney. It's not magazine ads that made the Camaro an icon. It was the many years where it was proven and renowned on the street as an affordable V8 RWD coupe with power and style. And I'd submit that what DID change over the years, helped keep it an icon. The improved ergonomics and crashworthiness of the 4gens for example. Camaros would still today be selling in similar volumes to the Mustang if GM hadn't pulled out of the game in the late 1990's. Camaro came late to the party the first time around, but managed eventually to lay down a pretty good A__ whoopin'. I believe history will soon repeat itself

 

When he speaks of icon status I think he's talking about general overall impact and what goes with it.


Personally when I think American made sports/sporty car. I think of two things. The Corvette first. Then the Mustang. Reason being they are so...engrained in American culture. Not to say the Camaro is not in that same vein. I just don't think it's on the same level. You could walk up to any person that knows absolutely nothing about cars. They will know what a Mustang is. They'll know who makes it. Just the other day in fact on another board this girl was showing of pictures of her friend with a Daytona Charger. I complimented the car and the topic came up if that person had any more. The girl said..."Yes she has a couple of other Mopars...a Camaro I think." She knew Mopar. She knew Camaro so she's not a complete newbie concerning the cars culture. But she thought the Camaro was a Mopar product and not Chevy(horrible I know).
I have yet to run into any person over the age of 10 that did not know what a Mustang was. I've met a few people who either did not know what a Camaro was(got it and the Firebird mixed up) or did not know who made it.

I think Chevy can do big things with the new Camaro and do it right however they in my opinion are facing an uphill battle ever so slightly in bringing the Camaro back after a few years off.

 

Y'know 192,000 units isn't a real big increase for a new model roll out

64 - 121,538...74 - 385,993...85 - 156,514...96 - 135,980...
65 - 559,451...75 - 188,575...86 - 224,410...97 - 108,134...
66 - 607,568...76 - 187,567...87 - 169,772...98 - 175,522...
67 - 472,121...77 - 153,173...88 - 211,225...99 - 133,907...
68 - 317,404...78 - 192,410...89 - 209,769...00 - 215,693...
69 - 299,824...79 - 369,396...90 - 128,189...01 - 155,563...
70 - 191,239...80 - 271,322...91 - 98,737.....02 - 142,404...
71 - 151,484...81 - 182,552...92 - 79,280.....03 - 155,370...
72 - 125,813...82 - 130,418...93 - 114,335...04 - 141,907...
73 - 134,817...83 - 120,873...94 - 123,198...05 - 192,000????
74 - 385,993...84 - 141,480...95 - 137,722...
***some years dont include special models - boss, shelby, roush, saleen, ect.***

But this begs the question, how much of a market is there for an American V6/V8 RWD 2DR coupe priced in the 19 to 40,000 range?

Will to many entries kill the segment? (ie; Mustang, Camaro, Challenger)

 

2 cars against 1? Nope.

Ford vs Chevy, period. Roughly the same number of dealers.


GM WAS rebating Camaros as much as everything else. Camaro SSs has no rebates, though.

When Camaro and Firebird were yanked, I predicted that Ford would see their sales skyrocket on that alone. Instead, there was....... nothing!

Mustang was completely unaffected by the demise of not 1 but 2 competitors, and keep right on selling at their numbers.

F body and Mustang buyers seemed to be entirely different.

 

I agree v6 Camaro/Firebirds were getting rebated but throughout most of the 4th gen run there was very little available rebate wise on the Z28/Trans Am cars. The 2002MY may have had some big rebates but what car didnt after the 9/11 ordeal?