Summary of 2021 Ford Mustang Changes: There’s good news and bad news

[Gregs24]

there is no profit without sales.

But sales don't mean profit either !

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[Bikeman315]

there is no profit without sales.

This is true to a degree but the decision to manufacture a product is determined on cost vs sell. That's where manufacturing, marketing, & merchandising merge.

As an example Ford builds a Mustang for $X. They sell it to the dealer for $Y. The difference is profit. The dealer than sells it to the end user. That's where your comment comes in. Of course the dealer has to buy cars from the manufacturer to stay in business. The end user has choices. Ford doesn't care what the dealer sells it for as they have already made their money.

 

[shogun32]

Ford doesn't care what the dealer sells it for as they have already made their money.

true but then the Factory has to rebate the dealer more and more as cars don't sell because the Factory is doing a shitty-ass job be it paint, assembly or just flat-out original design. A Ford dealer can't tell Ford to shove off and stop shipping me crap-ass cars that noone will touch. Short of changing brands. The feedback mechanism is laggy and imperfect for sure. Attention to detail doesn't really cost more but it has a marked impact on customer perception and repeat business. If you as Ford reject what your suppliers are sending you as unfit product the supplier has to eat their sloppy who-gives-a-sh*t-it's-parts-for-Ford attitude.

If the Germans can spec parts and enforce quality control so can Ford. They just don't want to.

 

[Hi-PO Stang]

Ford must have listened to the ones who received Mustangs that were not built well , because my 2020 Ecoboost built in August 2020 is perfect in every way. It is almost hard to believe a Mustang could come down a high production assembly line and have stunning paint that is perfect and the fit and assembly is flawless. I don't think Ford deserves to be accused of having lower QC standards than other car manufacturers . If Ford can build a car as good as my Ecoboost , I say they are making great strides in quality control.

 

[Ace]

If Ford can build a car as good as my Ecoboost , I say they are making great strides in quality control.

From a base ecoboost to a GT500 the build quality is really a hit or miss at Flatrock. I am happy for you it everything was build great on your car. But overall there are parts that you just should not look closely at, like the whole rear. The transition from bumper to fender next to rearlights never really matches, the trunk itself is barely aligned correctly and i even know a 2020 GT500 where it was misaligned enough the scratch the paint on the bumper. Or the gap between hood and headlights-bumper on the front which way too many Mustangs have.

In my experience other Ford models don't have these problems. I really don't get what they are doing in Flatrock. We had a Mustang here delivered in Germany with ordered Recaros which had the Recaro on the driver side installed, but the passenger side had the base seats - How can this car pass any quality control from factory to the dealer?

 

[Mazman]

From a base ecoboost to a GT500 the build quality is really a hit or miss at Flatrock. I am happy for you it everything was build great on your car. But overall there are parts that you just should not look closely at, like the whole rear. The transition from bumper to fender next to rearlights never really matches, the trunk itself is barely aligned correctly and i even know a 2020 GT500 where it was misaligned enough the scratch the paint on the bumper. Or the gap between hood and headlights-bumper on the front which way too many Mustangs have.

In my experience other Ford models don't have these problems. I really don't get what they are doing in Flatrock. We had a Mustang here delivered in Germany with ordered Recaros which had the Recaro on the driver side installed, but the passenger side had the base seats - How can this car pass any quality control from factory to the dealer?

My trunklid had at one point touched the fender both parts had to be spot painted.
Also the paint on trunklid had transferred over to the weather seal... So only the primer was left on some parts of the lid and the weather seal was blue..... (this was mentioned as it would be difficult to get approved as a warranty claim). Ultimately this was the trigger to get rid of the car as I had enough of the issues

while we are on the subject on parts nudging each other the passenger door had at some point come in contact with the fender so those parts where also spot painted.....

enough of that it's almost forgotten lol

 

[Vlad Soare]

Ford must have listened to the ones who received Mustangs that were not built well , because my 2020 Ecoboost built in August 2020 is perfect in every way. It is almost hard to believe a Mustang could come down a high production assembly line and have stunning paint that is perfect and the fit and assembly is flawless. I don't think Ford deserves to be accused of having lower QC standards than other car manufacturers . If Ford can build a car as good as my Ecoboost , I say they are making great strides in quality control.

You must be one of the lucky few, because my GT built in July 2020 came with the clutch switch just dangling in the footwell, hanging from its cable. I had to mount it myself (which wasn't as easy at is sounds). And the driver's door is not correctly assembled, because something rattles inside, and the window makes an unnatural screeching noise when going up or down - I still haven't got around to removing the door panel to check what's happening.
There was also a cable sticking up from between the driver's side A pillar trim and the edge of the dashboard. I pushed it down as best I could, though I'm not sure it's OK yet, I'll have to remove the pillar trim to see how it looks in there.
The quality of the assembly is not just bad. It's appalling for 2020.

 

[Ace]

My trunklid had at one point touched the fender both parts had to be spot painted.
Also the paint on trunklid had transferred over to the weather seal... So only the primer was left on some parts of the lid and the weather seal was blue..... (this was mentioned as it would be difficult to get approved as a warranty claim). Ultimately this was the trigger to get rid of the car as I had enough of the issues

while we are on the subject on parts nudging each other the passenger door had at some point come in contact with the fender so those parts where also spot painted.....

enough of that it's almost forgotten lol

I can totally see that some of these things really add up. On my 15 EU GT I added the tribars from Diode Dynamics and switchback turnsignals. There is usally no problem with that, but my car had a huge problem with the power management that every time the engine was on some lights began flickering. Afaik the reason is that some cars over producing too much power so it reduces the power in pulses which you can see on LEDs but not on the regular Bulbs Ford uses. It drove me crazy. Tested all cables and connections, redid the wiring multiple times, but in the end my car just was not able to handle it.

Here's another example of their quality control. This is brand new 2020 model that just arrived at the dealer. Why on earth are parts already that rusty in the interior? Customer of course is not accepting the car this way.

It really is a bummer when thinking about ordering a $60k+ Mach 1 if you have to be lucky to actually get quality worth that money.

 

[Mazman]

I can totally see that some of these things really add up. On my 15 EU GT I added the tribars from Diode Dynamics and switchback turnsignals. There is usally no problem with that, but my car had a huge problem with the power management that every time the engine was on some lights began flickering. Afaik the reason is that some cars over producing too much power so it reduces the power in pulses which you can see on LEDs but not on the regular Bulbs Ford uses. It drove me crazy. Tested all cables and connections, redid the wiring multiple times, but in the end my car just was not able to handle it.

Here's another example of their quality control. This is brand new 2020 model that just arrived at the dealer. Why on earth are parts already that rusty in the interior? Customer of course is not accepting the car this way.

It really is a bummer when thinking about ordering a $60k+ Mach 1 if you have to be lucky to actually get quality worth that money.

Yes those things were in back of my mind when considering the Mach 1.
However those rusty parts on the inside .....

 

[Gregs24]

Flat Rock assembly is about 15 years behind European Ford plants. Partly poor design and partly poor assembly.

Some Ford US staff need to visit Valencia to see how to build a car properly !

 

[WD Pro]

Sometimes I wish I didn't see some of the problems and then I would be happier with the car.

I've yet to see one that has every aspect spot on. Ford can do everything well, but I don't think they have managed to do everything well on the same car - of course that all depends on how close you want to look.

I spotted a Bullitt on a local car park recently and as I was looking at it the owner came back. He said he was absolutely over the moon with it. I didn't tell him I just spotted the same rear left side bumper shit line as mine, neither did I point out that his upper left trunk corner had contacted the base of the C pillar in exactly the same place as the Bullitt in my local showroom ...

WD

 

[Strokerswild]

It really is a bummer when thinking about ordering a $60k+ Mach 1 if you have to be lucky to actually get quality worth that money.

Let alone a $75K+ GT500....

 

[Hi-PO Stang]

Having heard about the quality issues on some 2020 Mustangs , I had to buy a 2020 Mustang to find out what the quality of build was like. I bought a Hi-Po 2.3 liter Ecoboost with the handling package. I was kind of hopping the Mustang would have some flaws so I could go to track and drive the snot out of it without worry. Now , I am not so sure I want to risk damaging such a gorgeous Mustang.

 

[Johnnybee]

Ford must have listened to the ones who received Mustangs that were not built well , because my 2020 Ecoboost built in August 2020 is perfect in every way. It is almost hard to believe a Mustang could come down a high production assembly line and have stunning paint that is perfect and the fit and assembly is flawless. I don't think Ford deserves to be accused of having lower QC standards than other car manufacturers . If Ford can build a car as good as my Ecoboost , I say they are making great strides in quality control.

I didn’t have a problem with the as delivered quality of the paint, it’s the apparent ease with which it leaves the car. I refer to it as my chip magnet. It had more chips after a year than my outgoing 2010 Sonata had at trade in.

 

[Carzzi]

Will it come with a new trunk badge as well ?

Wankers like me read that as "WoT" or "weigh anchor"