Last week Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] sent out notices to the more than 7,000 applicants for its new GT supercar informing whether they were among the lucky individuals awarded a build slot.
With only 500 slots available, at least for now, it meant many applicants, including many long-time customers, some of them previous GT owners, missed out.
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Ford said it would take into account multiple factors in vetting applicants, including aspects completely unrelated to car ownership such as connections with the company and even social media status… it’s alleged one of the build slots was awarded to a person famous for a YouTube channel centered on a computer game.
One could say the exclusivity factor helps build excitement and interest in the Ford brand in general, but while such stunts make sense for brands like Ferrari [NYSE:RACE], McLaren and Porsche, as exclusivity is part of these brands’ business model, Ford should be the antithesis of this.
New Ford GT
Ford is the brand for the everyday man or woman, and its GT, a homegrown, world-beating supercar, should be the halo car a hard-working individual can dream of one day owning, perhaps as an award for all their hard work. Instead, it’s now more likely to end up a garage queen, to be locked away in a climate-controlled room as a prized investment, like so many other limited edition supercars.
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Ford hasn’t said why it’s chosen to limit production. The last GT was built over two years and saw more than 4,000 examples leave the factory.
It could be that production constraints for the new GT or the possibility Ford is losing money on each of the cars, even with a $450k starting price, had some influence in the decision. And to be fair, the 500 build slots only represent two years of production, so it could be that Ford is planning to make more cars available at a later date.
Whatever the case is, perhaps Ford’s folly will be Chevrolet’s gain.
