The Ford faithful once again voice their opinions on the latest high-priced pony.
05-03-08: The anger and resentment among some Mustang enthusiasts has once again been stoked this week as Ford announced pricing for the 2008 Shelby GT-500KR at $79,995. The concept of an $80,000 Mustang has been met across the automotive landscape with a profound thumbs down. It is one thing for the mainstream auto-blogs and motor press to complain and throw rocks, but when the dyed-in-the-wool true blue Mustang forums are sounding the war drums again it can’t be a good thing.
And the timing could not be more awkward for such a lofty entry as many in our country are facing tough times, losing their jobs, losing homes to foreclosure, and paying $3.50 plus for a gallon for gas. While that won’t likely have an impact on sales of the new Ultimate Shelby, it sends a message to some in the enthusiast body that Ford still isn’t listening to them.
The sentiment of anger and incredulousness that you can find in almost any Mustang forums and blogs this week is reminiscent of the same wave of fervor that came when the GT-500 was sold at dealer premiums of $15-30,000 over sticker. The market will do what the market does. The collector and investor class has been more than willing to pay $80,000 - $100,000 for these cars on speculation that they will be worth big money at Barrett-Jackson in 2020. They may be right.
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The problem for Ford is that a significant customer base of high-performance Mustang buyers that had fed on some great SVT products in the 1990’s and early 2000’s were shut out the minute Ford pasted the SHELBY logo to the Mustang. This one move created a different paradigm in which these cars mean something completely different to a divergent subset of buyers.
Most people would argue that if the new GT-500KR didn’t have a SHELBY logo and branding on it and instead said SVT Cobra on the fenders, that it would be priced at $47,990 and the dealer markups would be more like $5,000-10,000. Whether this is true or not falls short of the wide perception that it is. A growing number of customers feel that Ford has forsaken them in a time where big profits can be made by cashing in on the SHELBY name to make up for shortcomings in the other corners of the showroom.
This is not to say that the new Shelby GT-500KR is not a wonderful machine. It is indeed the best handling, fastest, and most alluring Mustang that has ever rolled off an assembly line. After test driving it recently we have come away duly impressed at what the partnership between Ford, Shelby and Ford Racing has put on our table. The people developing the product have done great work.
We will even go so far as to say that this car could be a high-water mark for muscle-cars in our era. With new CAFÉ laws on the way and a reckoning in our economic times, this may be as good as it gets for a long time. To that end, Ford will indeed sell each and every one of the 1764 GT-500KR’s to a buyer that will happily pay much more than the stratospheric $80,000 asking price.
In that light it matters not what the MSRP of the GT-500KR really is because they are selling right now for $100,000 plus on Ebay as I write this. It would not matter if the MSRP was $40,000, $60,000, or even $90,000. The collectors are setting the price. So in some ways who can blame Ford for wanting a piece of that action and not giving it all to the dealers.
And don't misunderstand my take on this. I am one of the Mustang faithful who would not question spending funny money on any Mustang I fell in love with whether it made sense or not. In fact I bought a $55,000 Roush Mustang in 2002 when that was really considered crazy money for any Mustang. And we have a Mustang Saleen custom now that we have probably well over that figure invested in. So, I get it. I understand and hold dear the capitalistic right in America to charge and to spend whatever we want on those things that start our engines common sense bedamned.
The reason I think the price is meeting such negative reaction at the moment is the message it sends and how it affects Ford's credibility. Most people outside the small collection of Shelbyphiles willing to buy at any price, look at what else you can buy for the money; Chevrolet Corvette Z06 $72,125, BMW M3 $55,875, Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG $57,225, Nissan GT-R $70,475, Porsche 911 Carrera $74,360.
When you look at this list, most sane people start asking questions like where is the top-drawer interior trim? Where is the independent rear suspension? Where is the stability control? Where is the paddle-shifting sequential transmission? Where are the Xenon self leveling headlamps? Why does the $80,000 Shelby have the same cheap trunk liner and attachment clips as the $19,995 rental-car special? But this is really missing the larger point many are raising.
One reader wrote, "Since when was the Ford Mustang supposed to be competing in the arena of high-priced super-cars when it is the regular Joes in America who have kept the brand alive for 44 years?" This sentiment is repeated in many of the Mustang discussion forums this week. The multitudes of this genre are still asking, “Where is the affordable performance that Mustang has been known for?”
Surely one would hope Ford is getting the message once again on this. They know well the anger, resentment, and disappointment that rose from the original GT-500 feeding frenzy. They are surely becoming aware this week as “Act 2“ is raging across the automotive news outlets of the world. The question is, are they listening this time? Now that these disaffected Mustang buyers looking for a realistically priced 400hp car will have a choice at Chevrolet and Dodge showrooms to assuage their battered-enthusiast syndrome, will Ford finally listen? We hope so.
The message we hear from readers is clear. Give us a real high performance Mustang without all the hype, legendary pomp, overpriced designer labels, and the fat profit-taking. Give us something simple we can build on that will be special in its own merits. Do more than a re-flash and a cold-air intake, give us real horsepower in a plain brown wrapper so that we can decorate it our way. That is the age old formula.
