Vickstang
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Not to rub it in, but was this the meeting? I can't believe they made you sign NDA's... no wonder you thought they would show you at least a teaser of some sort.
October 18, 2013, 11:55 AM
Ford Keeps Mustang, F-150 Plans Secret From Its Dealers
Ford CEO Alan Mulally, shown in September, is keeping the new Mustang and F-150 designs hidden from view.
Thousands of dealers flew into Las Vegas this week for a big meeting with Ford Motor Co. executives, hoping for a sneak peek at the two most important vehicles Ford’s expected to launch next year, the redesigned Mustang muscle car and the F-150 pickup truck.
After signing confidentiality agreements and filing into the ballroom at Caesar’s Palace, dealers were told … nothing. Instead, Ford showed them a 15-passenger version of its forthcoming Transit van and promised a freshening next year on the Ford Focus.
Ford executives at the meeting refused to acknowledge that the company is even working on a new Mustang and F-150 – a brushoff automotive journalists have come to expect, but not the company’s own dealers, one dealer said.
One dealer, who came in from the Midwest only to see the Mustang and hear about the F-150, said it was almost unheard of not to show at least something at the meetings. In year’s past, Ford has at least rolled out a Mustang Boss 302 and unveiled various other vehicles.
Another dealer was particularly irritated after reading a Reuters report that select journalists will get to preview the Mustang next week in Dearborn. Ford declined to comment on either the dealer meeting or the Mustang report.
“I am sure that we didn’t convey to them that they would see either of those products,” said Elizabeth Weigandt, a Ford spokeswoman.
Every car company stages get-togethers with their dealers – often in Las Vegas – where it’s customary to offer retailers a preview of coming attractions. Last fall, Chrysler showed dealers their entire slate of prototype vehicles, including an early mockup of the new Cherokee SUV.
Three years ago, Toyota used its Vegas dealer meetings to show dealers the designs for its forthcoming Camry sedan, the Prius c, and the Prius v. The cars were introduced to the public later at the Detroit Auto Show.
Ford may not be saying anything about a new Mustang, but it is trying hard to stoke interest in the Mustang brand. Ford is asking dealers to gin up big celebrations in April for the 50th anniversary of the Mustang’s 1964 debut.
Ford’s effort to put a lid on information about its new Mustang and F-150 is closer in style to Apple Inc.’s approach to managing news about forthcoming editions of the iPad or the iPhone than it is to typical auto industry practice. Still, that hasn’t stopped the automotive press from speculating about the direction Ford’s signature models will take.
As the Wall Street Journal reported last year, people familiar with Ford’s plans have said the new Mustang would take on more of the looks that Ford has on other vehicles like the Fusion, adopting design cues from the Evos, a show car Ford displayed two years ago at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
People who have seen the car say it is smaller, lower and wider than the current Mustang, which borrows much of its look from late 1960s editions of the car. The new Mustang will be sold in Europe for the first time.
Another dealer said he was much more interested in the new F-150, which is due out next fall. “The Mustang is the frosting, the F-150 is the cake,” he said. The big pickup is Ford’s best-selling vehicle and part of the best-selling model line in the U.S. market.
To boost the F-150’s fuel efficiency in a market where mileage has become almost as important as horsepower or towing capacity, Ford is aiming to cut up to 700 pounds out of the truck by using aluminum body panels and structures, people familiar with the project have said. That weight saving could help boost the truck’s fuel efficiency by 15%-20% over the current model.
Mass market auto makers have been reluctant to use aluminum extensively in high-volume vehicles because it’s more expensive and more difficult to assemble than steel.
New assembly technology and the benefits a big fuel economy improvement could bring appear to have persuaded Ford to take the plunge. But the company has a lot to lose if something goes awry with the new F-150. The auto maker gets about 40% of its North American profits from the F-series line, according to Goldman Sachs.
http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-inte...-mustang-f-150-plans-secret-from-its-dealers/
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