Ford can’t stop Mustang gouging

Mustang mania has hit new heights with zero and low-km examples being offered for sale by scalpers for nearly $40,000 above manufacturer list price.

And Ford Australia says there is nothing it can do about either opportunistic private buyers or its own dealers offering Mustangs for sale at inflated prices.

First examples of the new Mustang have been making their way out to dealers and buyers over the last few weeks, with just under 1000 now registered.

But 4000 orders have been taken and the waiting list for the V8 is stretching out to the end of 2016 for those who have recently joined the queue. The four-cylinder Ecoboost waiting time is a little shorter.

And with no additional manufacturing capacity available at the sole manufacturing site in Flat Rock Michigan, which is running 22 hours a day, six days a week, Mustang in Australia is a classic sellers market.

At the time of publication, carsales.com.au had four Mustangs listed for sale at over $80,000. The most expensive, a manual GT V8 Fastback coupe, was priced at $95,000. The manufacturer's listed price for the GT is from $57,490.

“At the end of the day as a manufacturer we don’t control pricing and we don’t purport to do so,” Ford Australia president Graeme Whickman told motoring.com.au.

“We are in a competitive environment, we have regulators who watch that every closely and we set a recommend price – a wholesale price.

“It’s the market that sets the price at the end of the day.”

Whickman said there was nothing Ford could do about dealers who decided to pump up the price of Mustangs in their showrooms and make a quick extra buck.

“We have no ability to direct price to our dealers other than our manufacturer list price. If they sell it under or over it is completely down to them.

“That sometimes causes us some challenges, but consumers at the end of the day are purchasing that vehicle. That is part of a free market economy in terms of price and that’s the regulatory environment we live in and its no different to any market we compete in around the world.”

Whickman conceded customers copping a price gouge from a Ford dealer wasn’t “necessarily the best outcome”.

“But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) would say when there’s a variation in price ‘that’s the regulatory environment and the way the act works working successfully’.

“It is supply and demand like anything as well and I won’t argue that isn’t causing consternation. But at the end of the day that customer is still choosing to purchase that vehicle, whatever that price is.”

Australia’s response to the Mustang has made it one of the biggest markets globally for the iconic US sports car.

Whickman said there is now a study going on to establish if more right-hand drive Mustangs could be allocated to Australia, but there was no guarantee that investigation would be successful.

He also made the point that having demand outstrip supply wasn’t his biggest problem.

“Success is having one too few… we are not going to flood the market.”

He also predicted that once pent-up demand was satisfied the car would still sell well, meaning while sales would settle down this wouldn’t go quickly from a sellers’ market to a buyers’ market.

“I would argue the waiting list will drop over time and therefore perhaps the demand and supply will equalise a little bit and perhaps we will find an equilibrium,” he said.

“Maybe people will still trade a little bit above MLP, but at the end of the day they should be able to walk into their dealership at some point in time and not have to wait 10 or 11 months.

“I think that will be the determinant of what happens in the market.”

Look out for our first drive of the Mustang GT Fastback Coupe this Thursday.