Jump to content

Ford Aust Takes Possession Of First Mustang Shipment, Sold Out Until 2017


Recommended Posts

 

 

 

The pony express has galloped into town as Ford Australia has taken possession of its first shipment

of its rear-wheel drive Mustang sports cars ahead of its official on-sale date in January.

 

The first batch were unloaded at Melbourne's Appleton Dock Wednesday morning with three more ships

carrying the rest of the initial allocation due to arrive within the next three days.


The blue oval has received 20,000 expressions of interest with about 4,000 customers having paid deposits,

which accounts for all available vehicles for 2016.

 

"We are simply overwhelmed and humbled by the reception to Mustang thus far, which is probably our closest

equivalent to The Beatles first trip to Australia," Ford President and CEO, Graeme Whickman said.

 

The Mustang will be available in two body types, a fastback and a convertible. The fastback makes ups

about 88 per cent of those sales already accounted for.

 

Read more: http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/ford-sells-out-of-mustangs-until-2017-20151202-gld8yv.html#ixzz3tEfcSK4T

 

 

1449019355688.jpg

 

1449019355688.jpg

1449019355688.jpg

 

 

Great news but please Ford, buyers are lined up for the cars and you're only allocating a pittance????

 

The whole of Europe orders 10,000 Mustang in LHD & RHD while Australia runs out at 4,000 RHD?

 

Come on Ford, get your act together and stop making people wait over 12 months for a Mustang,

all cars allocated to Australia sold out nine months ago with zero, ZERO dealer stock, nadda, zippo..

Edited by jpd80
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

Great news but please Ford, buyers are lined up for the cars and you're only allocating a pittance????

 

The whole of Europe orders 10,000 Mustang in LHD & RHD while Australia runs out at 4,000 RHD?

 

Come on Ford, get your act together and stop making people wait over 12 months for a Mustang,

all cars allocated to Australia sold out nine months ago with zero, ZERO dealer stock, nadda, zippo..

There's probably no small amount of transpac shipping maths in this. Each ship only has so much room for all the vehicles Ford want to ship to Oz, the order backlog has to be weighed against the cost of chartering an additional Ro/Ro.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's probably no small amount of transpac shipping maths in this. Each ship only has so much room for all the vehicles Ford want to ship to Oz, the order backlog has to be weighed against the cost of chartering an additional Ro/Ro.

Yes, I get that but Chrysler/Jeep ship RHD vehicles to Australia on a regular basis.

There's a healthy mark up on the GT Mustangs that covers shipping, there's about

USD$10K dearer than US production.

 

The real issue is that Ford badly under estimated the depth of buyers in Australia,

when FoA tried to increase RHD allocation, they found that all of UK's allocation

was used up too. All while Falcon Turbo 6 and S/C XR8 production continues.

Quite astonishing...

Edited by jpd80
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's a growing capacity problem at FRAP, which is about to be made worse by the impending launch of the Continental. Fusion demand is down slightly, but that's misleading because the FRAP built Fusions are in high demand according to some of my dealer friends (perhaps Dean or ice-capades can share their experiences), and with the impending launch of the 2017 Fusion MCD, it's unlikely that we will have less Fusions in the build mix.

 

Look at the sales numbers for November. Even though monthly sales are down, the amount of Mustangs sold in North America has been unreal, compounded by overwhelming demand overseas. Unless there's a third shift added soon, RHD markets are going to have to deal with such small allocations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’ll leave production capacity and allocation to the experts on here but it’s great to see demand abroad for a truly American icon that is the Mustang. I sympathize with those that would like a Mustang but can’t get one. On the flip-side I would like to be able to get a LHD Falcon Ute here in the states.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm just a bit worried that because Ford now sells Mustang in Australia,the traditional importers who

import the LHD cars and have them converted to RHD are no permitted to do so.

 

So now Ford has stopped the grey import market but won't effectively service the demand themselves.

They have completely underestimated the demand level of the car by listening to people telling them

that the 2-door coupe can never effectively replace Falcon (or Commodore). A vocal minority has

influenced Ford's planning decisions with an assumption being proven to be false or at the very least,

inaccurate for the longest time..

 

Mustang can never truly replace Falcon, that is true but by the same token, it attracts a whole other

group of buyers who are willing to pay premium prices for the cars, that is something Ford must address.

before that crucial momentum is lost.... making buyers wait +12 months is utter bullshit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think the costs of shipping car from the US to Australia is real problem. A typical connex from China is only about $2000 or so to ship. Cars are smaller and take up less space...so you figure it should be cheaper then that.

 

Cost is probably not a big issue. But capacity is a real constrain. There is probably very few scheduled roll-on/roll-off ships between US and Australia so logistic is probably challenging.

 

For example, there is a dozen or so roll-on/roll-off ships that leave Amsterdam or Bremen for US ports every week.

 

But ultimately, I think jpd is right... Ford totally underestimated the demand for Mustang in Australia.

Edited by bzcat
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think the costs of shipping car from the US to Australia is real problem. A typical connex from China is only about $2000 or so to ship. Cars are smaller and take up less space...so you figure it should be cheaper then that.

Ford doesn't ship cars to Australia in containers, it charters Ro/Ro car carriers. The individual cost of each car isn't huge, but the load for each trip to Oz has been planned out carefully in advance. Even if they had the inventory to surge to Australia in response to this backlog, disrupting the shipping schedule can get real real costly. Especially if it means chartering an additional ship.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...