Dark Horse SC, who's adding one, who's replacing with one, what will it do to GT500 values?

[Strokerswild]

Not like S550 did either. 2025 sales were a little over 45k units. That’s not far off the last couple years of S550 and follows the downward trend of Mustang sales over a much longer period of time. Sales spiked the first year of S550 and have declined every year since. It’s not the screens or the names, it’s a market trend that has been happening for a while now

Yeah, I'm sure some of the reduced sales comes down to cost. Most don't have the discretionary income to have one of these cars sitting around as a third car or non-daily driver like many of us here, so they pick something more practical.

And the market for coupes in general has been on a decline for a while now.

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[MachNroll]

Yeah, I'm sure some of the reduced sales comes down to cost. Most don't have the discretionary income to have one of these cars sitting around as a third car or non-daily driver like many of us here, so they pick something more practical.

And the market for coupes in general has been on a decline for a while now.

I look around when I'm in traffic in my county and I see a boatload of Teslas, SUVs, and miscellaneous Hondas/Nissans and BMWs. More practical cars. Rarely do I see what I would call a "top tier" Mustang. A Dark Horse, never. I've seen maybe 2 new gen Mustang GTs.

I think folks who drive the top tier Mustangs are enthusiasts who have the resources and historical appreciation and passion to own one. I don't think there are a lot of folks in society who wake up in the morning, grab a cup of coffee, and go stand in their garage admiring their Mustangs.... wait, is it just me who does this?...

 

[Strokerswild]

I look around when I'm in traffic in my county and I see a boatload of Teslas, SUVs, and miscellaneous Hondas/Nissans and BMWs. More practical cars. Rarely do I see what I would call a "top tier" Mustang. A Dark Horse, never. I've seen maybe 2 new gen Mustang GTs.

I think folks who drive the top tier Mustangs are enthusiasts who have the resources and historical appreciation and passion to own one. I don't think there are a lot of folks in society who wake up in the morning, grab a cup of coffee, and go stand in their garage admiring their Mustangs.... wait, is it just me who does this?...

On the bold, no.

 

[MAGS1]

And say what you will about S650, at least it’s not this absolute abomination from Dodge…

 

[13GetThere]

Well at least the Charger has a gas engine and 2 doors again, like it should be.

I was at my dealership today and they had a 2018 Shelby GT 350 with about 50K on the odometer. I asked a salesman I know what the asking price was, and he said $41,800.
Just thought I'd throw that out there.

 

[Strokerswild]

And say what you will about S650, at least it’s not this absolute abomination from Dodge…

Now there's an example of an overpriced car....

But as said, at least it's gas and 2-doors now. Too bad they didn't get the memo that all-screen IPs are lame.

 

[wingnutt]

ROFL @ GT350ish

 

[Gilberjj]

Not like S550 did either. 2025 sales were a little over 45k units. That’s not far off the last couple years of S550 and follows the downward trend of Mustang sales over a much longer period of time. Sales spiked the first year of S550 and have declined every year since. It’s not the screens or the names, it’s a market trend that has been happening for a while now

I test drove the DH before buying my GT350R… the screens were the number 1 reason I wouldn’t buy a DH over the GT350R. Not saying there aren’t other reasons too, but I think automakers are trying to do everything all at once. I’d rather have a car that has focus on what it’s trying to accomplish. The tech is bold and cutting edge for about 1-2 years, then it ages like milk.
My gt350r will be worth more than DHSC in 10 years. But I suppose that’s a different discussion. Used car buyers probably think more like me, whereas Ford is in the business of selling new cars to dingbats who get sucked in my screens like moths to a flame.

 

[oregongt350]

Maybe I need a DHSC, more HP and faster than a 500, thats hard to believe.

 

[MachNroll]

I test drove the DH before buying my GT350R… the screens were the number 1 reason I wouldn’t buy a DH over the GT350R. Not saying there aren’t other reasons too, but I think automakers are trying to do everything all at once. I’d rather have a car that has focus on what it’s trying to accomplish. The tech is bold and cutting edge for about 1-2 years, then it ages like milk.
My gt350r will be worth more than DHSC in 10 years. But I suppose that’s a different discussion. Used car buyers probably think more like me, whereas Ford is in the business of selling new cars to dingbats who get sucked in my screens like moths to a flame.

I don't even want to know how those screens and related tech will be in 2 years if the gremlins come out. I do think that Ford is looking forward toward the future and not concerned about staying connected to the past Mustang heritage. They are geared toward selling to the folks who spend all their time fingering their smart phones and not those who actually remember using rotary phones.....

 

[TonyNJ]

Sales spiked the first year of S550 and have declined every year since. It’s not the screens or the names, it’s a market trend that has been happening for a while now

Is it fair to say that sales spiked for the first year of the S550 because it was a popular new design? IRS, better interior, high performance options never before seen like CF wheels, FPC in the hi-po models?

Yet, no sales spike for the S650. The S650 didn't do to the S550 what the S550 did to the S197. It's just not different enough as well as being enhanced.

 

[MAGS1]

Is it fair to say that sales spiked for the first year of the S550 because it was a popular new design? IRS, better interior, high performance options never before seen like CF wheels, FPC in the hi-po models?

Yet, no sales spike for the S650. The S650 didn't do to the S550 what the S550 did to the S197. It's just not different enough as well as being enhanced.

Yeah, I would say 2015 spiked because it was a totally new, ground up design with many new features.

Hard to say for sure, but had S650 been a similar, new design (with a possible AWD or hybrid powertrain like it was initially rumored), I think you might have seen a similar spike in 2024. Maybe not quite as high as 2015 depending on what the pricing would’ve been, but I would’ve expected a spike.

Being that S650 is basically a continuation of S550, the sales don’t surprise me at all, especially given the larger trend over the last 10 years

 

[Thomas]

Maybe I need a DHSC, more HP and faster than a 500, thats hard to believe.

I mean...its not THAT hard to believe right? Just a basic 300 dollar CAI is worth nearly 40 wheel HP on the GT500 as is.

I think the biggest delta will really just be the Cup 2 Rs in a track setting.

 

[Stage_3]

I look around when I'm in traffic in my county and I see a boatload of Teslas, SUVs, and miscellaneous Hondas/Nissans and BMWs. More practical cars. Rarely do I see what I would call a "top tier" Mustang. A Dark Horse, never. I've seen maybe 2 new gen Mustang GTs.

Same here.
I rarely see Mustangs either. But then again, I am in the Northeast, so many people probably do not have a "toy' sitting in their garage.

 

[Hack]

Yeah, I would say 2015 spiked because it was a totally new, ground up design with many new features.

Hard to say for sure, but had S650 been a similar, new design (with a possible AWD or hybrid powertrain like it was initially rumored), I think you might have seen a similar spike in 2024. Maybe not quite as high as 2015 depending on what the pricing would’ve been, but I would’ve expected a spike.

Being that S650 is basically a continuation of S550, the sales don’t surprise me at all, especially given the larger trend over the last 10 years

I agree that the S650 is too similar to S550, but in my opinion if the price would have also been similar, the S650 would have sold better. But this also holds for the last several years of S550. I bought my 2017 in 2020 because Mach 1s with the handling package cost almost what I paid for my GT350. I wasn't interested in paying that much for the Mach 1. So I paid about half as much for a car that is similar in performance. Yes I had to do a bunch of work to it for the track, but it was easily worth the $20K+ savings to me.

I'm not interested at all in hybrid or all wheel drive in a Mustang. Either are complete non-starters for me. If anything, I want the Mustang to have less content, weigh less and be less expensive.

If Ford had put a 7 liter naturally aspirated DOHC engine in the S650, it would have been really tough for me not to buy one. Especially if they went back to port injection and iron sleeves for the cylinders.

I was also constantly harping/asking for a transaxle in the time leading up to S650 release. Too bad it just was added to the halo car and not setup as a Mustang GT. A 5 liter manual transmission Mustang with a transaxle would be terrific. I think a lot of people would buy one. If it had SLA front and rear, even better.

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