Mustang driving interest in XR8

Ford Australia admits it was caught napping by the interest its upcoming Mustang would generate in its home-grown muscle-car – the XR8.

Speaking at the launch of the all-new Everest in Thailand last week, Ford’s local PR team said it was surprised by the effect media coverage of its newest pony car has had in driving customers into dealerships, saying sales of the XR8 – and pre-orders of the Mustang – are both well beyond initial estimates.

Ford announced in March that it would more than double XR8 production following unexpected demand, from an initial total of 1200 to 2800 between the release of the FG X Falcon late last year and the end of production in October next year; although since then sales have continued to trickle along at about 50 a month.

The release of a final special-edition XR8 – as well as the XR6 and XR6 Turbo – is likely to further spur demand, although motoring.com.au has learned the swansong Falcon sports sedans, which could revive the 'Sprint' nameplate, will not be released until 2016 – the Falcon's final year of production.

“There’s been a lot of speculation, and we can’t comment on the plans we have in place for our various products, but I can say that our team is very passionate, and I think that over the next year you’ll see that passion come through,” was all that Ford’s director of communications and public affairs, Wes Sherwood, would say on the matter.

However, Sherwood did say that Ford was excited by strong interest in both the XR8 and Mustang, which has now attracted more than 2400 firm orders. The figure surpassed the 2000 mark in May, and Ford is now selling well into its second Mustang shipment due next year.

“In terms of what we planned, the Mustang is well above expectations and the interest in the Mustang and the XR8 is in fact driving Falcon [XR8] sales to well ahead of where we expected them to be,” Sherwood said.

Despite the lack of advertising capital Ford Australia has invested in its last Falcon, XR8s now account for about 10 per cent of Falcon sales, which at a historic low of just over 3000 to June are down 13.5 per cent so far this year.

V8 demand is even stronger at Holden, where SS models comprise about a third of Commodore sales, which numbered almost 14,000 in the same period (down 16 per cent).

Ford said renewed interest in its V8-powered products had made it difficult to forecast the Mustang model sales mix. The vast majority of early-adopters have so far opted for V8 GT models, but Ford expects the four-cylinder EcoBoost to eventually be the most popular model.

The EcoBoost Fastback manual will open the sixth-generation Mustang range here from $44,990 in December, with the GT Convertible auto topping the line-up at $63,990.