Easy there, 65ffr, I'm the GSM at a Ford/Lincoln dealership. Lincoln isn't already out of business, but they're heading there very quickly. Just kidding! Lincoln sales are on the rise ever since South Park, Ellen, and SNL came up with their "marketing assistance" to Matthew McConaughey.
Good observation, I've been stating over and over again that the upgrades they made weren't incredibly costly. The CFRP isn't a very complicated mold to produce, or is it incredibly expensive. Also the BBK brakes are probably in the realm of 4-8k before being amortized across the model. Magnetic ride as mentioned before also is like a 1-2k stand alone upgrade. It isn't like they're aren't suppliers who manufacture this tech i'm sure ford just made some slight tweaks to call it their own. That leaves us with the motor, which is probably less than the trinity motor. Lastly, here are the costs of some vehicles in the market or coming. BMW f8x M 62 base, ATS-V estimated 55k base, Corvette c7 54k base, ZL1 55k base. Ford has always been known to offer better pricing also, some of these models are up marketed in comparison. So its illogical to have their middle model vehicle competing with these so I stand firm on 48-52k base.Some thoughts:
CFRP on the radiator mount is not expensive tech. You can see from the photos that it is a molded plastic with CF bits that are just part of the raw material mix. It's not like we are talking a woven CF layup with this part. The material cost will be marginally more expensive, but there really isn't any intensive labor going on, so I dont see much more than $100 cost added (and probably less).
The brakes are another unknown to me. Typically when I see a high quality, two-piece brake, I am used to seeing the steel rotor attached to the aluminum bat with pins and nuts. This allows the steel rotor to slide on The pins and compensate for the difference in thermal expansion between the two materials. Pictures of the ATS-V brakes show this clearly. The GT350 brakes don't seem to have this feature, at least not in the way I am used to seeing. Not sure if that means the brakes are inferior, superior, or just different to those you'd typically get in a well designed BBK (or on the ATS-V). But given how they differ from every other two-piece brake I've seen, I'm guessing there is some cost reduction going on here as well.
The real question from my perspective is the amount of cost required to allow the 8000+ RPM redline of the Voodoo engine.
Don't know a whole lot about the transmission, but it's model number is smaller than the one used in the GT500, so using common logic it must also be less expensive. After all, everyone knows that more = better (and therefore smaller model number must mean less expensive).
Anyhow, I think $50,000 - $55,000 staring with $10,000 to $15,000 of options is likely. Very similar to the current prices of the GT500. Also, I think the GT500 will end up being about $5000 more than the GT350.
-T
You are correct, Sir!
Let's talk about "middle model". Are you just referring to price or, are say GT500s considered superior to say Boss 302 LSs? I have this weird thing about having to have the highest level of any particular model. Can't settle for a GT350 when there's a GT350R, 4 Series when there's an M4, a C7 when there's a C7 Z06 etc...
I'm saying that a base gt350 is the middle model in the hierarchy. A base gt500 will be a tier higher than the gt350. Now, a gt350R model will be a different tier all together and could be priced differently. As a R model wouldn't be considered a DD in comparison and more so a dedicated vehicle. (This same logic applies to the LS vs. gt500 model as it is a more race spec boss not built for being a DD but a track purpose vehicle). In regards to the can't settle statement, I'm saying that Ford has to consider the vehicles on the market that aren't considered to be in its class and price it accordingly. Some people would prefer a fully loaded 4 series instead of a base M4 if they had the money to afford on of the two. That is why a base gt350 could also be a few grand above a fully loaded mustang gt premium.
For many of your examples there is a clear hierarchy. The 4 series to M4, the c7 z51 to c7z, and the ATS to ATS-V. However comparing the Boss 302 LS to GT500 (and GT350 to eventual new GT500) is a bit different. In the other examples, the higher end model takes everything from the lower model and amplifies it. And there is typically no significant change in the vehicles' intent. The GT500 however is quite different from the Boss LS or the gt350 in purpose. So it not quite that one is lower than the other, but rather that they fulfill different roles. The GT350 is the road course and twisty road weapon, while the GT500 is the straight line luxury beast. It may be just as fast (or even faster) due to having much more power, but it will also make some compromises (heavier due to added S/C for example).
Good find! Wonder if it's true!!?? Hopefully so, I wouldn mind paying $53k for a base GT350
