Mustang sales losing traction so far this year
 

Mustang sales losing traction so far this year

The sports coupe has been a bright spot for Ford. But sales fell in January and February.


The latest version of Ford's iconic Mustang appears to be growing old, and back-to-back monthly sales declines to start 2007 have the struggling company a little worried.

The new Mustang, which made its debut in the fall of 2004, has been a bright spot for Ford at a time when bright spots have been few.

So when Mustang sales dropped by 19% in January and February compared with the same months in 2006, executives became concerned.

"It's gotten our attention because when a high-volume product like that declines as much as that, we want to see what we might want to do," said George Pipas, Ford Motor Co.'s top sales analyst.

A drop in Mustang sales should be a worry for Ford. Overall U.S. sales slipped 8% last year. The company sold 160,975 Mustangs in 2005 and 166,530 in 2006, big numbers in the mid-size sports coupe market, a segment considered to be a niche.

"It did phenomenally well for a while, due in part to [being] really the only car in the segment," said David Lucas, vice president of Autodata Corp. "It was exciting. It appealed both to young people and the people who remember what the Mustang used to be."

Pipas said even Ford was surprised at the car's staying power when sales continued to grow last year, though it is during the second full year when sales usually begin to decline for most models.

"Two months is hardly a litmus test for the entire year, particularly when the two months aren't big sales months for anything, let alone two-door sports coupes," Pipas said.

Still, Ford is working to keep the Mustang fresh with new variations that keep the car exciting, as well as gearing up new promotions heading into the spring and summer, traditionally the Mustang's best sales months, spokesman Alan Hall said.

The company just began shipping new versions of a Shelby GT Mustang, and sometime next year, it plans a dark-green "Bullitt" version reminiscent of the 1968 Fastback Mustang GT that Steve McQueen drove in the classic movie.



Cars with sportier body styles like the Mustang traditionally have shorter life cycles than more conventional cars, said Tom Libby, J.D. Power & Associates' senior director of industry analysis. The Mustang, because of its name and status, has defied that at times, Libby said.

Still, Ford must do everything it can to protect the Mustang's turf, he said.

"That model is a core model for them," he said. "They can't let this one fall off its perch."

The company's other remaining icon, the F-series pickup truck, also has seen its sales drop and is facing heavy competition from General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp.

Competition for the Mustang is only going to get worse when Dodge resurrects the Challenger muscle car in 2008 and Chevrolet comes out with the new Camaro early in 2009.

"When you've got the Mustang and the Camaro and the Challenger going head-to-head, the winner is the consumer because it's going to put a lot of downward pressure on prices," Libby said.

Ford won't say when a new Mustang will hit showrooms, but Pipas said he wouldn't be surprised to see it sooner than later.

"This is a product where you like to redesign the product and give these loyal buyers something to look at every four years or so," he said.

How many sports cars did anyone sell in Jan or Feb?

^ yea no kidding eh.

I think the new Camaro will seel damn near twice as good as the stang did in it's first and second year.....as sad as that is to say.

I dont know I still think that new camaro is butt ugly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:dunno:

Yea I can't stand it either, I hate 69 Camaros so I hate this new thing even more, but there's a TON of camaro fans, I would even venture to say more than stang fans.

That Challenger looks sweet, but I have a weird feeling that it won't last.

That new camaro in the show circuit is WICKED bad ass :icon16:

*ducks for flying rocks*

Challenger
 

I agree. The Camaro is a decent looking car. But it's got an ugly arse end.

The best looking of the "New Retros" is the Challenger. It looks like it should. A perfect balance of the old body and some new smoothness.
Chrysler really dropped the ball with the Charger. The initial show car, based on the old Intrepid body was decent.
It should have been a 2 door and built instead of the Challenger.

The only problem with the current 2005-07 Mustang is where does FOMOCO go from here? How do you improve on the retro-Stang without losing too much of the flavour?
Do you go further back for inspiration? Or to the 1971-73 Elanor/wedge look?

It's like dating the head cheerleader as your first date. The rest of the girls are going to have a tough act to follow.
:dunno:

I think one of the nicest "stock" trim mustangs are the 03 cobras followed by foxes.

Im not sold on the new ones unless theyre dumped and sitting on nice rims :3gears:


I myself will either purchase another fox or an 03 cobra, i even like the sn95's... the rest of ford , well, imo can be flushed. :nana:

that has to be the best comment yet.

challenger is beautiful, camaro can kiss.. well you know what. it's bad when you hear chevy boys say it looks like arse.

I don't post much on this forum, but I have to comment on this.
If you go back right to 1967, when the Camaro was introduced, the Mustang has, year after year, regardless of body style, consistently outsold the Camaro. In its last years, the Camaro sold something like 20-25000 units anually, while the Mustang sold 150,000 units.
Throughout the 80's and 90's, Mustang sales were always upwards of 150000/yr, while Camaro and Firebird went steadily downhill.
I'm sure someone here know the actual numbers, or has a link to some info about it. Just look around the net..
I highly doubt that either the Camaro OR the Challenger will outsell our beloved Stang.

Ive kept my distance from Camaros over the years...don't know a lot about them...not as much as i do about stangs, particularly the early stangs, but I was ALWAYS under the assumption that chevs had a FAR greater following than fords....because really what does ford have to offer in the muscle car department other than the mustang? I suppose the Falcon COULD be considered a muscle car, but not really...the Galaxie? Meh....I guess the closest thing would be the Torino and the Cougar. GM had the Chevelle/Malibu, Nova, Gutless,Skylark, GTO/Tempest/LeMans etc.

And Dodge of course had the Charger,Challenger and Cuda....and some people hot rodded the Furry, but I wouldn't consider it a muscle car.

IMO GM's got a much better folling than Ford and Dodge....But, you can't argue with numbers.