2024 Mustang sales lowest in history of Mustang

[MaddNomad]

The whining never ends ...

Could just ignore the thread. And the other 2 or so recent ones.

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[Gregs24]

Base vs base. That's the only way to compare.

Up to a point. A base GT now is a very different car spec wise to a base GT from 2015

 

[Rocket Man]

this whole thread is ridiculous. The other pony/muscle cars are legislated out of existence by the woke governments position. That is about to change. Will they come back? Maybe. Everything costs more now, get over it. With the "average" new car now about 50K, a new Mustang at 60k is a smoking deal. Don't like it or can't afford it? Get a better job or buy something else.

 

[Bikeman315]

The number I’d like to see are “orders on hand”. Ford, for whatever reason, cannot produce cars in a timely fashion. If they could this thread might never have existed.

As far as price, it is what it is. Some of us need to get our heads out of the seventies and eighties. The value proposition is still there. When the average price of a new car is $48k and the base price of a GT is $46k I don’t see an issue. If you believe it’s still too much, fine, move on. You have numerous other options in a two door, four seat car with a V8 engine and manual transmission.

 

[MustangMitch69]

There's a pretty clear consensus here, even though I've only read through two pages of responses. Here is my two cents in case I can offer a unique perspective:

For some background, I'm a millenial who only fairly recently became financially "stable" in that I'm now making a lot more money per month than I'm spending on my mortgage and other monthly expenses.

Fortunately, I bought my house in 2019 before home prices and interest rates skyrocketed. If I bought the same house today, my mortgage payment would literally be double due to the increase since then in inflation and interest rates, and I would have much less "disposable income".

All that considered, I could understand why sales would drop solely based on the economy then vs. the economy now.

So for my cohort of buyer (40 years old and younger), low S650 sales probably has nothing to do with the s650's value and everything due to the economy.

When I decided to get a new car and started researching, my criteria was 1) at least 300 horsepower so I can get around town and on the highway with confidence, 2) a convertible, 3) four seats because I have a small child, and 4) a comfortable ride and interior.

For bang-for-the-buck options, this criteria really limited my options to cars like the S650 'vert, the BMW M440i, and the Audi S5 Cabriolet, the latter two of which are more expensive.

To give a nod to the Camaro SS 1LE, I think it's a beautiful car, more sinister looking, and it has a much better chassis and makes for a better track car, HOWEVER I never drive at the track, its outward visibility is horrible, its back seat is more cramped than the mustang, and its interior is outdated. For bang-for-the-buck TRACK car I think the Camaro SS 1LE is a better option.

In fact, if all you care about is track performance, an M2 (F87 or G87) will run about the same time as a Mach 1 and a ZL1. For budget options, a Civic Type R, Integra Type S, Elantra N, and a Golf R are only about 2 seconds slower than that Mach 1 / ZL1 / M2 class!

For me and my needs, the S650 'vert met all my criteria and was less expensive than the others I was considering. The ecoboost actually would have met my needs sufficiently, although in my opinion with the GT, the improvement in power, sound, and aesthetics made it worth the extra coin.

Why not a used S550 then? 1) Because there weren't any available within 300 miles of where I live, with less than 30,000 miles, that had the color and specs that I wanted, 2) I actually like the digital gauge cluster better than analog, and also like all the interior upgrades that come with the new GT premium, and 3) I also like the exterior sharper styling a lot better. It's more "camaro-esque" for lack of a better description.

For finance strategy, I put $20K down on my S650 GT 'vert and through Ford I was able to finance the rest at only 1.99% for a 3-year term. I would have bought it outright because I have the cash, but currently I can make more than 4% on risk-free 3-month US treasuries (T-bills) when I buy them at auction. If my earning rate drops below 2%, which I don't expect it to any time soon, I'll just pay the car off.

 

[robvas]

You guys with this nonsense about the "average new car costing $48k"

That's ATP, average transaction price of any new vehicle

Being propped up by the best selling vehicle, pickup trucks. The average transaction price for a full-size pickup truck is $66,631

The average new car price is lower than 48k, there are a ton of $20-30k new cars out there and not much near $50k other than Luxury cars, which have a closer average to pickup trucks at $60k

so you're basically comparing the "average" to pickups and SUVs

 

[Rocket Man]

i don't think many here would settle for the 30k cars. they are just appliances with no soul. want a performance car? you gotta pay. anything else is just whining.

 

[Bikeman315]

You guys with this nonsense about the "average new car costing $48k"

That's ATP, average transaction price of any new vehicle

Being propped up by the best selling vehicle, pickup trucks. The average transaction price for a full-size pickup truck is $66,631

The average new car price is lower than 48k, there are a ton of $20-30k new cars out there and not much near $50k other than Luxury cars, which have a closer average to pickup trucks at $60k

so you're basically comparing the "average" to pickups and SUVs

Fine. Then find the average price of two door, four seat cars with a V8 engine and manual. Also a “ton” of new cars in the $20/$30k range? Honestly, it’s really hard to take anything you say seriously.

 

[Bikeman315]

i don't think many here would settle for the 30k cars. they are just appliances with no soul. want a performance car? you gotta pay. anything else is just whining.

To be fair there are some really fun cars out there in the low thirties like the Mazda Miata, Toyota GR86, and the Golf GTI. I would consider all of them to have a “soul”. But I wouldn’t trade my Mustang for any of them.

 

[robvas]

Let's go back in time to 1999

the Camaro Z28 and Mustang GT were both about $21,500

The V6 models were about $4,000 less, so $17,500

The Mazda Miata had the starting price set at $20,095

The Miata today starts at $30,750

The Mustang and Camaro were always cheap V8 options and that is no longer the case.

 

[robvas]

Fine. Then find the average price of two door, four seat cars with a V8 engine and manual. Also a “ton” of new cars in the $20/$30k range? Honestly, it’s really hard to take anything you say seriously.

You're basically trying to say it's okay that a Big Mac is $10 because a pizza is $13

 

[IceGamer]

this whole thread is ridiculous. The other pony/muscle cars are legislated out of existence by the woke governments position. That is about to change. Will they come back? Maybe. Everything costs more now, get over it. With the "average" new car now about 50K, a new Mustang at 60k is a smoking deal. Don't like it or can't afford it? Get a better job or buy something else.

I think this thread is refreshing. I may not agree with @Mustang1987 as I think that Ford does have other options than raising prices or stop producing the Mustang but he and many others on the forum are quite refreshing. A civil back and forth of arguments without false assumptions or subtle insults.

Besides, I don’t think that other ‘muscle’ cars were legislated out of existence, at least that’s not the only reason. The Challenger certainly was but ultimately it was bad management to assume an EV could easily replace a true muscle car with a V8. The upcoming Charger i6 won’t do much better because a muscle car is characterized by actual muscle and a 3.0L i6 has everything but muscle… I drive a 3.0 inline 6 and have driven many inline 6 engines (from 2.7L to 3.8L) and I can tell you guys that there is nothing ‘mighty’ about those power plants. Nothing replaces displacement in terms of feeling and characteristics. They’re not the fastest though…

Anyhow, the Camaro was on its way out way before ‘woke governments’ took over. That Camaro was just not an overall appealing car. On paper it was the better car and it should have sold well but the design wasn’t very appealing towards the end and it wasn’t really practical either. I’m pretty sure that most Porsche/Corvette owners have at least another car to do the grocery shopping and all that kind of stuff in but that didn’t count for Mustang or Camaro buyer. As a result, to ‘fix’ the Mustang problem Ford has to do two things:

• Ford has to shift to a new platform for the Mustang. It doesn’t have to be a dedicated one but a newer none the less.
• With the shift to an existing platform Ford could actually lower the cost of production (economy of scales by utilizing the full capacity of a factory, different/lighter/less materials etc. – obviously that could only be done by moving production to another factory and shutting FlatRock down) and implement a ton of new features and either keep the current prices while offering a vastly improved product or lower the cost and build an inferior product (unlikely)

Make the Mustang appealing again ;)

 

[robvas]

The upcoming Charger i6 won’t do much better because a muscle car is characterized by actual muscle and a 3.0L i6 has everything but muscle… I drive a 3.0 inline 6 and have driven many inline 6 engines (from 2.7L to 3.8L) and I can tell you guys that there is nothing ‘mighty’ about those power plants.

What power plants do BMW M2's have (faster than the S650, remember)?

An I6! Not muscle enough for you?

if you think a 550hp Hurricane I6 in those chargers won't make power...especially modified...

 

[Bikeman315]

I think this thread is refreshing. I may not agree with @Mustang1987 as I think that Ford does have other options than raising prices or stop producing the Mustang but he and many others on the forum are quite refreshing. A civil back and forth of arguments without false assumptions or subtle insults.

Besides, I don’t think that other ‘muscle’ cars were legislated out of existence, at least that’s not the only reason. The Challenger certainly was but ultimately it was bad management to assume an EV could easily replace a true muscle car with a V8. The upcoming Charger i6 won’t do much better because a muscle car is characterized by actual muscle and a 3.0L i6 has everything but muscle… I drive a 3.0 inline 6 and have driven many inline 6 engines (from 2.7L to 3.8L) and I can tell you guys that there is nothing ‘mighty’ about those power plants. Nothing replaces displacement in terms of feeling and characteristics. They’re not the fastest though…

Anyhow, the Camaro was on its way out way before ‘woke governments’ took over. That Camaro was just not an overall appealing car. On paper it was the better car and it should have sold well but the design wasn’t very appealing towards the end and it wasn’t really practical either. I’m pretty sure that most Porsche/Corvette owners have at least another car to do the grocery shopping and all that kind of stuff in but that didn’t count for Mustang or Camaro buyer. As a result, to ‘fix’ the Mustang problem Ford has to do two things:

• Ford has to shift to a new platform for the Mustang. It doesn’t have to be a dedicated one but a newer none the less.
• With the shift to an existing platform Ford could actually lower the cost of production (economy of scales by utilizing the full capacity of a factory, different/lighter/less materials etc. – obviously that could only be done by moving production to another factory and shutting FlatRock down) and implement a ton of new features and either keep the current prices while offering a vastly improved product or lower the cost and build an inferior product (unlikely)

Make the Mustang appealing again ;)

You certainly make some interesting points. But the reality of today’s market is such that building a profitable two door sports coupe at a reasonable price is no longer possible. People, with the exception of us enthusiasts, just don’t want them. They want SUV’s and pickup trucks. And like it or not, more and more folks are finding EV’s fit their needs. That leaves us out in the cold. Could Ford build what you have suggested? Of course, they could. Be we both know that dream is never going to come to fruition. The demise of the Mustang and Flat Rock will be the end of a long and prosperous era, never to be recreated.

 

[Bikeman315]

What power plants do BMW M2's have (faster than the S650, remember)?

An I6! Not muscle enough for you?

if you think a 550hp Hurricane I6 in those chargers won't make power...especially modified...

Maybe you weren’t around in the late 60’s but power and muscle are not the same. A M2? An I6? Really? Power, yes, muscle, no.

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