New Ford Mustang arrives in Australia, sold out for a year before anyone test drives a car

[Express]

New Ford Mustang arrives in Australia, sold out for a year before anyone test drives a car

2 December, 2015

Joshua Dowling
National Motoring Editor
News Corp Australia Network




On its way Down Under ... The Ford Mustang 2015. Picture: Supplied


THE new Ford Mustang is sold out for 12 months — before the first one has arrived in showrooms or anyone has taken a car for a test drive.

But close to 500 fans will get an early Christmas present, with the first batch of cars due to dock in Melbourne in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

More than 4000 Australians have placed deposits for the latest version of the iconic American muscle car — triple the demand for the homegrown Ford Falcon V8 — despite costing between $45,000 and $65,000.

While the Falcon will reach the end of the Broadmeadows production line after 56 years in October 2016, Ford fans have embraced the new Mustang in record numbers.

Australians have ordered twice as many Mustangs as UK buyers, even though the car market and the population there is triple the size of Australia.

Ford executives in Detroit will be breathing a sigh of relief because this is the first time in the nameplate’s 50-year history a Mustang has been made in right-hand-drive on a US production line.



All eyes on this ... The 2016 Ford Mustang Coupe at the 2015 Los Angeles Auto Show in California. Picture: Frederic J. Brown


Previous Mustangs sold in Australia in the 1960s and early 2000s were converted to right-hand-drive locally.

Nine out of every 10 orders placed so far are for the V8 model (the remaining 10 per cent have four-cylinder power) but highway patrol police across Australia will need to wait their turn to get behind the wheel.

While the new Mustang is a favourite to replace the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore police pursuit cars — given the similar price and performance — the boys in blue will have to wait in the queue.

The new Mustang is yet to be formally approved for police pursuit work but it is one of the limited options available to emergency services once the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore go out of production in the next two years.



High demand ... The Ford Mustang 2015 at the Geneva Motor Show. Picture: Supplied


The first shipment of 173 Mustangs arrives in Melbourne in advance of three more arrivals totalling a further 300 or so vehicles before Christmas.

It takes between two and four months for the Mustangs to be shipped to Australia from Detroit; the initial batch was held up for a fortnight due to a shipping delay in the Panama Canal.

Ford Australia has imported a handful of display models over the past 12 months — including for the 2015 New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney, and eight promotional vehicles that arrived last Friday — but these are the first customer cars.

Meanwhile, Holden fans holding out for a right-hand-drive version of the Chevrolet Camaro will have to wait at least another five years for the Mustang’s arch rival to be sold locally.

The latest Camaro on sale in the US was not developed for right-hand-drive due to the Global Financial Crisis and General Motors’ bankruptcy.

But Holden has promised 24 other new imported models between now and 2020, once the Elizabeth production line closes in late 2017.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/tec...story-comments

[GAFA]

Originally Posted by Express

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/tec...story-comments

The story is full of errors, the biggest one is the line about the delay due to the Panama Canal. The first 3 Ships bringing the Mustangs had NO delays and pretty much sailed through without stopping.

[Gothefalcon]

Any errors and another JD article aside... this is a good news story !

Congratulations to those who will finally be taking delivery of their brand new Factory RHD Mustangs !

The few I've seen at car shows/Bathurst/etc over the past year have looked fantastic in the flesh ! Fingers crossed for everyone who's laid down their hard earned, that Ford US has put these great cars together well... and their new Mustang experience is a positive one !

D

[Sioso]

There will be a few new ones available from dealers on Carsales - there always is.
They will have a big mark up over rrp though.

[Stefan]

Hope to see a few of these on the road...some lucky guys will spend their Xmas break pampering their muzzy.

[stevefreestyle]

Dowling typically cannot resist punctuating this Ford good news story with a plug for GMH, in an attempt to diminish it - as he can ALWAYS be relied upon to show his bias.

http://www.news.com.au/technology/in...5c15f3d2e8861b

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by GAFA

The story is full of errors, the biggest one is the line about the delay due to the Panama Canal. The first 3 Ships bringing the Mustangs had NO delays and pretty much sailed through without stopping.

Had heard there was an error in not getting the cars booked on to the correct ships to arrive in time........woops.... (<---- that is the person that was supposed to book the ship head's rolling on the floor after that mistake)

[The Snout]

Really looking forward to seeing these on the road in the flesh. If the manufacture of cars is over in Australia then lets get on with embracing and enjoying these iconic models.

[superfly]

Here they are!

http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/f...02-gld8yv.html

Can't wait to see some on the road.

Just noticed that this drive article is almost the same as the News article. They are using the same pics.

[Revolver]

http://www.msn.com/en-au/video/watch...UXD2?ocid=iehp

[Craig@AUDI]

Originally Posted by Sioso

There will be a few new ones available from dealers on Carsales - there always is. They will have a big mark up over rrp though.

Not true. Any fall-overs go back into pool stock and are allocated to the next customer order in-line. The dealership cannot keep the car and resell it to another customer.

Now as far as a customer reselling straight away, that's another story.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Craig@Rockdale

Not true. Any fall-overs go back into pool stock and are allocated to the next customer order in-line. The dealership cannot keep the car and resell it to another customer.

Now as far as a customer reselling straight away, that's another story.

That sounds like a logistics nightmare to me.

Car turns up at dealer in Brisbane, customer says no not what I'm looking for, car then gets sent to next guy on list in Perth???

I assume dealers are not allowed to put on demos?

Couldn't dealers just change the name on the order to the next guy that walks off the street? E.g. just because I have ordered one in my name doesn't mean It will be invoiced in my name, it could be invoiced to a company or another legal entity.

[99AUXR]

Indeed however what happened at one dealership here in NZ was a GTF was picked up by an unnamed dealer principle at an unnamed dealership and registered. Then sold with little KMs on it.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by 99AUXR

Indeed however what happened at one dealership here in NZ was a GTF was picked up by an unnamed dealer principle at an unnamed dealership and registered. Then sold with little KMs on it.

Falcons have never been scrutinized by this policy. If a dealer has a GTF allocated to them and the sale falls over, they still keep it.

[99AUXR]

Okay cool, My Bad

[Sioso]

Originally Posted by Craig@Rockdale

Not true. Any fall-overs go back into pool stock and are allocated to the next customer order in-line. The dealership cannot keep the car and resell it to another customer.

Now as far as a customer reselling straight away, that's another story.

That may be the rule but we will see soon enough if it applies.

[b0son]

Originally Posted by Smoke Pursuit

That sounds like a logistics nightmare to me.

These are the people that came up with the shambolic XR8 allocation system, no?

[Falcman0o7]

Fantastic news!!!!

Holdens answer is ****** new models that will burst into flames like the other daewoos LOL

[katefactor]

Heard a whisper today that Shelby will be setting up a division in Melb to convert cars here, approx 18th months time.
Between 30 and 70k depending on what you want

[GTLEGEND]

Originally Posted by katefactor

Heard a whisper today that Shelby will be setting up a division in Melb to convert cars here, approx 18th months time.
Between 30 and 70k depending on what you want

Old news, Mustang Motorsport in Melbourne is the only Authorised Shelby outfit in Australia...

http://www.mustangmotorsport.com/home_mm.php

[deluxe_]

Ford Mustangs muscle their way into Melbourne and a long waiting list

https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watc...ng-list/#page1

[SumoDog68]

Clever move by Ford to supply less than demand - it will create more demand :-)

[Express]

Originally Posted by SumoDog68

Clever move by Ford to supply less than demand - it will create more demand :-)

Or do what I did with the XR8, I didn’t like the idea of waiting so I looked around to buy something else.

[Brazen]

What a fantastic car.

[SumoDog68]

Originally Posted by Express

Or do what I did with the XR8, I didn’t like the idea of waiting so I looked around to buy something else.

What else do you get instead of a V8 Mustang for the similar $$ ?

[Pedro]

[QUOTE=GAFA;5531101]The story is full of errors ............ QUOTE]

What else would you expect from that tool.

[FPV GTHO]

Originally Posted by GTLEGEND

Old news, Mustang Motorsport in Melbourne is the only Authorised Shelby outfit in Australia...

http://www.mustangmotorsport.com/home_mm.php

That's Shelby American though

[GTLEGEND]

Originally Posted by SumoDog68

What else do you get instead of a V8 Mustang for the similar $$ ?

You took the words right out of my mouth.. give it 12 or so months and the supply will catch up, remember its taken 2 years to get 12 months of orders...estimated 400 per month to come after the initial orders are full filled.

[MethodX]

Originally Posted by Falcman0o7

Fantastic news!!!!

Holdens answer is ****** new models that will burst into flames like the other daewoos LOL

like the Everest huh?

[99AUXR]

Could have been journo, guess we will know soon.