Ford Shuts Down Mustang Factory After 32% Drop In Sales

Ford Motor Co. is idling its Mustang factory in Michigan for a week after the iconic sports car suffered a 32 percent sales decline in the U.S. last month and was outsold by the Chevrolet Camaro for the first time in almost two years.

The automaker idled its plant in Flat Rock, south of Detroit, to match production capacity with demand, Kelli Felker, a company spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement. The plant, which employs 3,702 workers and makes Mustangs and Lincoln Continentals, will resume production Oct. 17, Felker said. Under the automaker’s labor agreement, workers will be paid during the shutdown.

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MDarringer - 10/11/2016 8:30:24 AM

+1 Boost

Chevy put a LOT of money on the hood of the Camaro to get rid of excess supply. The incentives are still pretty high. For performance, the Mustang and Camaro are a draw, but Chevy is being much more aggressive on price, so it's the wiser choice financially.

MDarringer - 10/11/2016 10:39:29 PM

+1 Boost

The problem with the Mustang is that it does NOT have enough retro cues. Ford went anti-retro with the 2015 and even went so far as to make the Mustang look like a Fusion coupe. THAT is the real culprit. Ford's own consumer clinics have shown an indifference to the 2015 and an admiration for the 2005.

Typically, when the Mustang looks like a Mustang it does well. The de-retroed 2010 sold half as well as the 2005. The 2015 sold a little under double that of the 2010, BUT the lion's share were people getting new Mustangs to replace older Mustangs. The Mustang will still break 100K units, but it could be 50% higher with the right car.

Both Ford and Chevrolet shot blanks with the 2015 Mustang and 2016 Camaro respectively.

HenryN - 10/12/2016 1:41:46 AM

+3 Boost

The 2005 Mustang revived the icon - led by Chief Engineer Hau Thai Tang. I have been wondering why he was sent to Brazil only a few years after its successful release. He seems to languish under the Ford bureaucracy weight. He was recently (2013) promoted to VP of purchasing - not exactly a place a car designer would want to be. I'd rather he come back to lead the Mustang or SVT program once again.