Is newest 'Mustang' a dying breed?

[Mr.DJ]

Is newest Mustang a dying breed?

~ It may be one of the last 500-horsepower muscle cars ~

TULSA, OK – Rushing through torrential rain on Interstate 44, the Shelby Mustang GT 500 splashes smoothly through road pools at speed.

This extreme 500-horsepower muscle car – the newest factory hot rod from Detroit – weathered that storm with ease and grace. But the GT 500 and other domestic muscle cars may face tougher tests ahead.

Although demand for the GT 500 is so high that it has pushed the car's $42,000 base price to $50,000 or more at many dealerships, some industry observers think it could be the last 500-horsepower muscle car to come out of Detroit.

With gas prices high and baby boomer buyers nearing retirement, the sun may be setting on traditional American muscle cars.

The genre was born more than 40 years ago and revived in the early '90s with the Dodge Viper, whose V-10 engine now pumps out 520 horsepower.

Moreover, as General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. struggle financially, the money to develop these cars may be limited – particularly if the number of potential buyers is dwindling.

"I think there is a built-in demographic for these cars now," said Michael Jordan, chief of Automobile magazine's Los Angeles bureau, who wrote a story on muscle cars for the July issue.

"But it's totally correct to say this is not a big boom market. I just don't see more of the ... [500-horsepower cars] coming from Detroit."

Though no one is predicting the imminent demise of all muscle cars, their slow fade could pose a significant challenge for Detroit.

Although the cars primarily appeal to over-50 buyers, they are the Big Three's main "halo" vehicles – attention-grabbers for the entire brand.

Without high-profile cars like the GT 500 – which should arrive at dealerships within 60 days – and the Z06 Corvette, the Dodge Viper and Charger SRT-8, "the domestics are left with nothing in the way of halo vehicles," said Wes Brown, an analyst at industry consultant Iceology in Los Angeles.

"I don't know if we are at the peak or not," he said. "I guess it will be determined by how well these cars are executed."

"I don't see the Europeans backing away from selling luxury cars with these massive V-8s and huge horsepower," Mr. Brown said. "But that's low volume.

"If you want to keep your [sales] volumes high, there could be some resistance to bigger V-8s with high horsepower, particularly if gas stays high."

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Source: Dallas Morning News
by Terry Box - The Dallas Morning News
10:43 PM CDT on Saturday, July 1, 2006

[Mike Penner]

Phooey. There are TWO entire generations that have never bought or driven these cars new - Gen X and Gen Y. I'm 36 and restored versions of these cars were the killers I remember rumbling through the school parking lot back in 1988 when I graduated. By all accounts things were vastly worse during the height of the oil embargo (turmoil in the middle east? sounds familiar...) that killed the first muscle car era. Right now we have high prices back then we also had LONG LINES and fuel rationing and the cost of fuel was far higher when adjusted for inflation. Then the price of gas plummeted and stayed that way for decades.

There will always be a need for these kinds of cars, even when they're powered by hydrogen.