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Ford shuts Flat Rock for a week- 32% sales drop

speedfrk

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Interesting...

With a slowing market for cars, Camaro’s inventory rose to a 139-day supply at the end of August, said Jim Cain, a GM spokesman. The incentives, coming at the end of the 2016 model year, helped lower Camaro supply to 120 days, still twice what is consider an optimum inventory. Mustang supply rose to 89 days at the end of September from 71 days a month earlier.


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Ford Shuts Mustang Factory for One Week After Sales Plunge 32%


Ford Motor Co. is shutting 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 second-largest U.S. automaker idled the factory 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.
The idling may be a sign of the growing weakness of the U.S. auto market, which had been a leading driver of economic growth. Automakers’ monthly sales have been coming up short -- though they beat expectations in September -- and many analysts are now predicting the U.S. auto industry won’t match last year’s record of 17.5 million cars and light trucks.

Mustang, which is among Ford’s most storied nameplates, received a racy redesign two years ago on the car’s 50th anniversary. That new look helped propel the Mustang past the Camaro in 2015 to regain its title as the top-selling sports car in America, which it had held for decades before General Motors Co. redesigned the Camaro in 2010.

Camaro Gains

Camaro overtook Mustang last month for the first time since October 2014 on the strength of incentives that more than tripled last month to $3,409 per car, compared with an average discount of $2,602 on the Ford pony car, according to data from researcher J.D. Power obtained by Bloomberg.

“In terms of incentives, we’re always going to be disciplined, but we’ll be competitive as well,” Erich Merkle, Ford’s sales analyst, said in an interview.

Ford has sold 87,258 Mustangs in the U.S. this year, down 9.3 percent, while GM had Camaro sales of 54,535, off 11 percent, according to researcher Autodata Corp. Ford Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields has said the U.S. auto market has plateaued and that showroom sales are weakening.

Going Global

Ford began selling Mustang globally last year, and the factory produces versions with the steering wheel on both sides of the dashboard for right-drive and left-drive markets, Merkle said.

Production of the Continental is still increasing at the Flat Rock factory, Felker said. The automaker sold just 775 copies of Lincoln’s new flagship sedan last month, its first sales since the automaker discontinued the car in 2002.

Until February, Ford also built the Fusion family sedan in Flat Rock. But as sales for that model flagged, the automaker consolidated production of the Fusion at it primary plant in Hermosillo, Mexico, Felker said. Fusion sales have fallen 9.1 percent this year to 210,462 models.

With a slowing market for cars, Camaro’s inventory rose to a 139-day supply at the end of August, said Jim Cain, a GM spokesman. The incentives, coming at the end of the 2016 model year, helped lower Camaro supply to 120 days, still twice what is consider an optimum inventory. Mustang supply rose to 89 days at the end of September from 71 days a month earlier.

The deals on the Camaro will cool off this month as GM rolls out the 2017 model, Cain said.

“We’ve been able to achieve some pretty significant increases in retail market share and transaction prices while keeping our incentives pretty disciplined for the calendar year,” Cain said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...ng-factory-for-one-week-after-sales-plunge-32
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Khyber

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yeah it's the election. even real estate which I am in, has slowed down big time since september. it'll kick in high gear again in jan.
 

SpeedLu

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Agreed, it's the current political climate. I work in a casino, and lately people aren't coming out to play as often. Everyone is just worried about the country's future, so people are conserving their cash and holding back on big purchases.

Probably doesn't help that most people who wanted a 6th gen either already have one by now or are waiting to see the 2018 refresh.
 

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Berserker

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Agreed, it's the current political climate. I work in a casino, and lately people aren't coming out to play as often. Everyone is just worried about the country's future, so people are conserving their cash and holding back on big purchases.

Probably doesn't help that most people who wanted a 6th gen either already have one by now or are waiting to see the 2018 refresh.
Is it a good time to get a deal on any 2016 Mustangs still on the lot?
 

mark.k

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Glad that I bought my 2016 Guard V6

The Bloomberg article mentioned that almost 4,000 workers are at this Flat Rock Plant making Mustangs and Lincoln Continentals. I think I also read somewhere that for every one auto factory job at least five other jobs are made at the same time.

I am very glad, and proud, that I bought my 2016 Mustang earlier this year during a Memorial Day weekend sale.

It is just the base model V6 with a manual transmission but the engine runs very smooth and the car makes me feel great every time I get into it. Plus it runs fine on 87 octane and makes as much horsepower as many V8 engines made five years ago.

The last car I bought was a VW Passat with a 1.8 L four cylinder engine. I have felt guilty for the many years I have owned it because it was not made in this country. To add insult to injury the Passat was never very reliable and was always costing me lots of money in repair bills.

Just owning an American made car again has helped my conscience feel much better. I am also having way more fun driving it.

I also feel the design, quality, and workmanship of my Ford Mustang is better than my VW Passat. I learned the hard way that just because it was made in Germany doesn't guarantee that it will be any good.

The neat thing about the Mustang now is that it is exported and sold in many countries around the world, so I hope that also helps keep the workers at Flat Rock going when sales slow down in the states from time to time.

I saw a bumper sticker once that said something like "Buy American Made-The Next Job You Save Could Be Your Own".

I was bummed out to read the Bloomberg Article but hopefully it is just a temporary slow down.

I would really like to buy another Mustang in the future as I am finding that I do suffer from some GT envy every time I see one drive by. Ha Ha.
 

Twin Turbo

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This seems a strange decision to me. OK, so the US market may have slowed a little for Mustang last month, but I can tell you of at least two markets that haven't and and still have massive lead times. Certainly the UK and Australia demand could have been filled, at least partly. UK V8 sales are still taking about 9 months from point of order to delivery, and Australian sales/deliveries are pushed out to 2018!!

Just wondering why production couldn't have been used to fulfil a massive backlog of RHD cars? :shrug:
 

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bluebeastsrt

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This seems a strange decision to me. OK, so the US market may have slowed a little for Mustang last month, but I can tell you of at least two markets that haven't and and still have massive lead times. Certainly the UK and Australia demand could have been filled, at least partly. UK V8 sales are still taking about 9 months from point of order to delivery, and Australian sales/deliveries are pushed out to 2018!!

Just wondering why production couldn't have been used to fulfil a massive backlog of RHD cars? :shrug:
Amen!
 

snake bite

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This seems a strange decision to me. OK, so the US market may have slowed a little for Mustang last month, but I can tell you of at least two markets that haven't and and still have massive lead times. Certainly the UK and Australia demand could have been filled, at least partly. UK V8 sales are still taking about 9 months from point of order to delivery, and Australian sales/deliveries are pushed out to 2018!!

Just wondering why production couldn't have been used to fulfil a massive backlog of RHD cars? :shrug:
Yeah exactly, we are quoted 12 to 15 mths to get our cars. I waited 352 days. Worth every second i might add :ford::headbang::ford::ford:
 
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Given To Fly

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The economy has ran all but ran out of gas. If you follow real estate and mortgages, a 30 year mortgage is basically 1% less this summer than it was last summer, yet home sales were off this summer in many markets.

New car sales for a handful of manufacturers have been down the last few months and will continue to be down in part because the sub-prime lenders are tightening up due to increased delinquency and sub-prime lending is 20% of the market.

If you follow commercial real estate, they build these apartments, condos, towers and multi-use projects using private equity and private equity has really tightened up this year. I can think of a handful of projects that were announced in Atlanta this year but weren't funded and will remain a wet dream until private equity gets comfortable again.
 

skinnysaurus

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Interesting...

With a slowing market for cars, Camaro’s inventory rose to a 139-day supply at the end of August, said Jim Cain, a GM spokesman. The incentives, coming at the end of the 2016 model year, helped lower Camaro supply to 120 days, still twice what is consider an optimum inventory. Mustang supply rose to 89 days at the end of September from 71 days a month earlier.
Why don't they spend the time to make some GT350's so we can get one at MSRP :ford:
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