Sporty Fords slow out of the blocks

Now is a great time to buy a new Ford. It's not such a great time to take delivery of one, however – especially if it's one of the Blue Oval's growing number of more desirable products.

The delivery time for the Mustang has now stretched out to the second half of 2017, says Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood, even with another 2000 units recently secured from the factory for Aussie buyers.

"In the words of our Mustang chief engineer, who came over for our launch earlier this year, he said: 'I specifically made this trip, because we were stunned by the response in the market'…" Sherwood advised, explaining how it came about that Ford Australia had managed to expand its early allocation of Mustang.

The Ford spokesman admitted that the global demand for the Mustang had caught the company completely by surprise, despite the fact that the pony car has never been sold in as many international markets before.

"It quadrupled our initial projection," Sherwood mused. "Part of what we're balancing is this is going to be a vehicle we're going to offer over time, so is this an initial rush, or more indicative of on-going demand? That's one thing we're trying to balance, because if we keep having year-long waiting lists, because we keep under-calling it…"

"You do expect that it's going to settle down a little bit, and come to a more consistent level…"

Sherwood couldn't narrow down the delivery time for customers placing an order for a Mustang today. He said that a precise delivery date was more likely to be contingent on the specification ordered. By implication, the waiting time for an EcoBoost convertible could be longer than a manual GT coupe.

"If EcoBoost demand goes up 25 per cent, then it goes beyond our projections and we have to go get more parts… so those are all the kind of things to factor in."

According to Sherwood, the initial demand for Mustang has been split along lines of 90 per cent GT (including convertible) to 10 per cent EcoBoost. But that may change as the 'gotta-have-it-now' buyers gradually give way to buyers who have perhaps enjoyed driving a Mustang along Pacific Coast Highway 1 in California – and are prepared to buy any Mustang, including an EcoBoost model, provided it gives them that top-down touring experience.

"It's starting to level off, and the EcoBoost model is starting to make up more of the mix as we expected," Sherwood said.

"I can't tell you how many Australians I've run into that have told me about trips they've taken to California and hired a Mustang and driven down the coast. Those people who have this iconic imagery of Mustang... that's what has made Mustang endure over the years."

Ford is also grappling with a delay for local buyers of the Focus RS, with one customer who placed an order back in February being advised that the factory won't even begin building Australian-spec cars until July, which is when the Focus RS will be launched to the media in Australia, says Sherwood.

While he was not prepared to discuss production commencement and delivery dates for the Focus RS, he explicitly said that our fascination with two markedly different sports models – Mustang and Focus RS – has been noted around the Ford world.

"We have the attention of the global team," he simply said. Ford Australia finds itself in the unusual situation of having multiple "image vehicles" selling at boom levels.

Even the Ranger Wildtrak, the top-shelf variant of Ford's locally-designed light commercial vehicle model, is in what the music industry calls 'high rotation'. Sherwood says that placing an order for a Wildtrak today will result in a delivery at some indeterminate time in the second half of this year.

"It's definitely out to the second half later this year, so we're working through that issue as well," he said.

While the Wildtrak is hard to lay hands on at the moment, Ford Australia is nonetheless concentrating its efforts on the 4x4 market for Ranger. That's where the money is, and that's where people adjust their views of a brand and its products.

"That's where you really build the truck brand," Sherwood said. "That's where your retail [private] customer is, that's where your Wildtrak customer is... that's where you can really tell if you have brand momentum in the truck segment."

The 4x2 pick-up segment is where the fleets buy their products, and Ford is moving away from targeting fleets.

Supply has long been a problem for Ford Australia. Asked what the company could put into practice here to alleviate that sort of problem, Sherwood explained that the 'One Ford' production and marketing strategy has a role to play there.

"Until 10 years ago, we were a group of regional companies," he explained. "And 10 years ago we shifted, and became a proper global company. Part of that process is we've changed the model line-up; obviously we were very reliant on Falcon here, so the global team had really not a lot of involvement with our market.

"Now, as we introduce more and more global vehicles, we're going to learn and get better."