Whatever Happened To The BMW Mustang?

On 21 Feb 2004 23:52:27 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Patrick) wrote something wonderfully witty:

I think Ford, like GM possibly thought the unrefined Pony Car was a dying breed even with sales figures for the Stang still doing good. They also need to compete in the world market which requires a higher level of refinement. So in order to compete (in their minds) they turned in the direction of a more refined Sporting Car ala BMW as you suggest. Remember the first Corvette C-5 brought a more European flair & level of refinement to that platform as well. Perhaps it was a trend.

I don't know how good Ford's intell is, but depending on when they found out that GM was axing the F-body that could have drove the decision to completely capture the Pony Car market at a level where no one could catch back up.

GM without a Pony Car left in its stable has brought back the Goat in an attempt to capture a piece of the market. Unfortunately it is 10K more then a `Stang. It is also a whole lot less refined. The `05 is going to completely eat it's lunch. The `06 Cobra may give the Vette a fairly good run for it's money as well.

I have been told I am not allowed to use a broadsword to disprove ?The Pen is Mightier than the sword?.

yeah, well I think the presence of Bill Ford has something to do with it. He is a Mustang guy and I think he pushed all the good stuff we are seeing now. Without him I think we would still be where were in 96. Back then the focus was on sales numbers (read V6 models). Right now that is still important but back in 96 I Would have never dreamed to see something like the 03/04 Cobra.

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At one point in time, the Merkur XR4Ti was touted as the "Mustang replacement". Thankfully, front wheel drive versus right wheel drive won the battle....

I've seen a few posts hoping for low production numbers... ostensibly to increase the value of the model run???? Perhaps to make the car unique?? We can rest assured that dropping numbers is a sure sign of a model disappearing (one only needs to look at the "reborn" T-Bird).

You can rest assured that the next Mustang will be whatever the bean counters assume will sell well enough to justify the tooling and other expense.

Doesn't matter how much oomph the factory puts in it from the git-go.... there'll always be someone wants a little more and has the bux to find it.... sad part is that he/she has a lot more bux than the rest of us...

Now.... I can recall the days of the Boss 302, the Boss 429 or the utterly beautiful 427 dual quad cars. Having lived through the early horsepower wars and looking out over this sea of young faces.... I can only say... and it is with a lump in my throat when I say..... NEENER, NEENER, NEENER!!!!!

Jim Warman snipped-for-privacy@telusplanet.net

As I remember it the Cobra's were suppose to compare with the BMW M3, not the GTs.

MadDAWG

"neener"?