Ford sticks to its guns on Mustang BULLITT allocation

Ford Australia will stick to its original Mustang BULLITT allocation despite rampant demand for the highly sought-after Hollywood tribute, it has been confirmed.

carsales.com.au understands the Blue Oval’s Australian arm had recently considered requesting additional volume of the hero car beyond its original allocation of 700 vehicles, first announced in March last year.

It even contemplated importing the Shadow Black version of the BULLITT, like that available in the US, in a bid to meet local demand while not affecting resale values of traditional Highland Green examples or alienating its current customer base.

The current popularity of the BULLITT, which commemorates the 1968 Steve McQueen movie of the same name, is such that second-hand examples are circulating on carsales for as much as $95,000 - $20,000 more than the original sticker price.

Ford Australia officials confirmed this week the cap of 700 vehicles would not be increased for Australia, following speculation another allocation was inbound.

“Mustang BULLITT has really resonated in Australia, but we have no plans to bring in any additional BULLITTs beyond the 700 we’ve announced,” a Ford Australia spokesman said.

Ford officials confirmed they have allocated all 700 vehicles to dealers via contracts. Most of those are said to be spoken for, except for anticipated cases where dealers are holding out for top dollar.

In the meantime, budding customers continue to patiently wait in the hope an order has fallen through, pushing them up in the queue.

The BULLITT Mustang takes the regular 5.0-litre V8 Mustang and gives it a little open heart surgery. Ford has massaged the mechanicals courtesy of an ‘Open Air induction system’ and intake manifold, 87mm throttle bodies, Ford Racing air filter and a power control module from the Shelby Mustang GT350.

All told, power rises to 345kW (up 6kW) and torque remains at 556Nm compared with the donor car. No official 0-100km/h time is provided, but we’d suspect the low to mid four-second mark.

Another key foundation of the BULLITT is its gearbox. A six-speed manual transmission punctuated by a classic white cue ball shifter is your only option – and it is one of the sweetest-shifting sticks to grace a modern car.

Elsewhere, all 700 individually numbered Australian BULLITTs exclusively wear Dark Highland Green paint matched by gloss-black 19-inch Torq Thrust-style alloy wheels.

The BULLITT eschews lairy body stripes and even Mustang badges for a faux fuel filler cap, chrome exterior highlights, BULLITT scuff plates and green-stitched dash and door trims.

It does so bearing an $11,000 premium on the Mustang GT on which the BULLITT is based.

Ford has revived the BULLITT on two previous occasions (2001, 2008) but, tellingly, this is the first time it has been available in Australia.