Ford wrong foots the hot hatch makers

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Ford has revealed the full Aussie price list for the new Mustang ahead of it hitting showrooms in Australia in December. The starting price for the 2.3 liter EcoBoost Fastback, is A$ 44,990 with the automatic variant costing an additional A$2500.

That price undercuts many hot hatches such as the Volkswagen Golf GTI, Subaru WRX STI and Renault Megane RS265.

The EcoBoost’s 2.3 liter four-cylinder engine produces 233 kW and 432 Nm, which far outperforms most of the hot hatches in its price range.

The V8-powered Mustang GT is also a bargain priced at A$54,990 for the manual and A$56,490 for the six-speed automatic.

Mustang!Mustang!

This makes the Mustang GT competitively priced against six cylinder, two door sports coupes such as the Lexus RC350 (from A$66,000), Nissan 370Z (from A$56,930) and BMW M235i (from A$79,930). It is also comfortably underneath V8-powered coupes such as the Lexus RC F which is priced from A$133,500.

Ford claims it has 1200 firm orders for the Mustang and has also received interest from more than 15,000 potential customers and believes that more customers will flock to the new sports car after the announcement of its competitive pricing.

“With such sharp pricing, we’re signaling that there’s a new Ford performance car coming and we intend to grab our rightful share of enthusiasts who value style, technology, performance and the history that the Mustang name brings,” says Graeme Whickman, Ford vice president marketing, sales and service.

Both variants come with the option of either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic transmission, electric power steering, 19 inch alloys, LED taillights, rain sensing wipers, sat-nav, reversing camera as well as Ford’s new SYNC2 infotainment system which is accessible through an eight inch monitor on the dash.

OK. That is the position in Australia, will it come to Thailand? I believe it could as this is the first Mustang also produced in RHD. There is a Free Trade Agreement already in place if Ford would like to bring the Mustangs up to Thailand, in exchange for the Fiesta’s we build here.