NEW YORK — An international team at Ford is trying to figure out how best to allocate the 250 Ford GT super cars that will be sold later this year, said Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of The Americas.
At the same time, Hinrichs has told dealers in North America not to take orders or price gouge – especially because they haven't been told whether they even will get one of the $400,000 cars to sell.
Ford first showed the new 2016 Ford GT at the North American International Auto Show in January. It is a mid-engine car with a carbon fiber body and a 3.5 liter twin-turbocharged EcoBoost engine, generating more than 600 horsepower.
Ford sold about 4,000 GTs during the 2005 and 2006 model years – all for Canada and the U.S.
This time around the automaker is limiting production to 250 a year for sale. Hinrichs would not say how many model years are planned, but noted the car "does have a finite life."
"We are discussing who gets them," Hinrichs said, and discouraging dealers from pre-selling until have there is a decision on how to allocate and manage the process.
Hinrichs said he knows dealers and customers are eager.
"I was at Galpin Ford (in California) last week. They showed me their list of interested parties."
One auto writer said a dealer approached her offering one for $600,000.
Hinrichs is building an extension to his garage to make room for some of the new performance vehicles Ford is introducing.
Ford has 12 new performance vehicles coming by 2020 including the GT, F-150 Raptor, Mustang GT350 and GT350R coming later this summer and the Focus RS which is making its North American debut Wednesday at the New York auto show.
Ford has contracted Multimatic to make the GT because of the Canadian company's expertise with carbon fiber.
The vehicle does not have to be changed much to meet the regulations of each individual country and the work can easily be done by Multimatic, he said in a meeting with reporters the day before the New York auto show opens to the media.
In fact, Multimatic did the retrofitting of the Canadian GT in 2004, Hinrichs said.
The last GT were discontinued in the fall of 2005 because it did not meet new incoming regulations. The 2016 GT has been designed to meet regulations for the foreseeable future but it will still have a finite life, he said.
The car was designed for a V6 engine from the start to meet the aerodynamics required, he said. "That drove decisions for no V8."
At the same time, Hinrichs has told dealers in North America not to take orders or price gouge – especially because they haven't been told whether they even will get one of the $400,000 cars to sell.
Ford first showed the new 2016 Ford GT at the North American International Auto Show in January. It is a mid-engine car with a carbon fiber body and a 3.5 liter twin-turbocharged EcoBoost engine, generating more than 600 horsepower.
Ford sold about 4,000 GTs during the 2005 and 2006 model years – all for Canada and the U.S.
This time around the automaker is limiting production to 250 a year for sale. Hinrichs would not say how many model years are planned, but noted the car "does have a finite life."
"We are discussing who gets them," Hinrichs said, and discouraging dealers from pre-selling until have there is a decision on how to allocate and manage the process.
Hinrichs said he knows dealers and customers are eager.
"I was at Galpin Ford (in California) last week. They showed me their list of interested parties."
One auto writer said a dealer approached her offering one for $600,000.
Hinrichs is building an extension to his garage to make room for some of the new performance vehicles Ford is introducing.
Ford has 12 new performance vehicles coming by 2020 including the GT, F-150 Raptor, Mustang GT350 and GT350R coming later this summer and the Focus RS which is making its North American debut Wednesday at the New York auto show.
Ford has contracted Multimatic to make the GT because of the Canadian company's expertise with carbon fiber.
The vehicle does not have to be changed much to meet the regulations of each individual country and the work can easily be done by Multimatic, he said in a meeting with reporters the day before the New York auto show opens to the media.
In fact, Multimatic did the retrofitting of the Canadian GT in 2004, Hinrichs said.
The last GT were discontinued in the fall of 2005 because it did not meet new incoming regulations. The 2016 GT has been designed to meet regulations for the foreseeable future but it will still have a finite life, he said.
The car was designed for a V6 engine from the start to meet the aerodynamics required, he said. "That drove decisions for no V8."