Ford to Import Next Gen RHD Mustangs to Australia

by TTAC Staff

Published: July 16th, 2013

ford to import next gen rhd mustangs to australia

In an exclusive story, Australia’s Herald Sun newspaper has announced that Australian rear wheel drive Ford enthusiasts will be getting something to help them get over the hurt of Ford’s recent announcement that it will be discontinuing local production of the Falcon along with the rest of Ford production facilities down under.

Starting in 2016, all Fords sold in Australia will be built somewhere else. The salve in the wound of Aussie Ford fans is that one of those imports will be a right hand drive version of the next generation Mustang, also starting in 2016. It will be the first time since the 1960s that factory built RHD Mustangs will be officially available to the Australian market. True to the hooning reputation of drivers in that country, Ford is said to only be going to offer V8 power in Mustangs exported to there. Though the announcement is sure to be welcomed by Ford fans in Oz, it’s not that surprising since Ford had earlier announced that RHD versions of the next Mustangs will be sold in the UK. Ford expects that 10% of worldwide sales of Mustangs will have the steering wheels on the right hand side. Ford did do some local RHD conversions of the Mustang about a decade ago,but only sold about 400 due to the $90,000 price (I assume the Herald Sun is using figures in Australian dollars). This time, Ford is said to be pricing the Mustang in Australia a little more reasonably, at about $50,000. More than what a base V8 car costs in the States, but still achievable for many Aussie Ford fans.

#2015FordMustang #Australia #FordAustralia #FordFalcon #FordMustang #RightHandDrive

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15 of 18 comments

TonyJZX on Jul 16, 2013

the lack of a 4 cyl. means they dont see a market for a car just under $50,000 that is a larger bodied 4 cyl. coupe while americans will enjoy a $22k 4 cyl. mustang or camaro, it wont happen in that market (maybe the uk?)

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Roberto Esponja on Jul 16, 2013

Ugh...not to offend anyone or start a flame war, but I can't understand how, in this day and age, there are countries still holding on to driving on the left. I can't even imagine what a pain it must be for a right-handed person to drive stick.

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- Skor on Jul 16, 2013
  
  World map countries where people drive on the left v drive on the right. Except for Japan, I believe all the countries where driving on the left is the law were once part of the British empire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg
  
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- Wmba on Jul 16, 2013
  
  Ever been to the UK? Or must we all see the world from the soda straw wide-angle lens of America? Driving a manual works out a lot smoother, left foot on clutch, left hand on gearlever. The brain seems more at ease, that's what I found after about 15 minutes. Remembering to stay on the correct side of the road takes longer on non-busy roads with few visual clues. My pals from postgrad days in London years ago had a special treat for me on my last visit, which included a trip to the continent. "You drive!" Well that was fun, piloting a RHD drive Mondeo in Germany, Belgium and France. Actually, not too bad. My instincts for sudden avoidance were correct, and I really enjoyed rowing the box left-handed, you can get really smooth shifts without really trying. Refused to drive in Blighty again that trip, though, in case of inappropriate brain fade in a dicey situatioj. There's more than one way to skin the proverbial cat. Why should anyone in North America care how the other half lives? It's a non-problem.
  
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- TonyJZX on Jul 16, 2013
  
  @wmba theres upwards of 1.25 billion people who drive RHD there's 330 million Americans fin.
  
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- Varezhka on Jul 16, 2013
  
  @skor I think many of the former Dutch colonies also drive on the left hand side (though Netherlands themselves drive right), and Iceland and Sweden only switched to the right in the 60s. Interesting is Samoa, which just switched few years ago to the left for an easier import of used car from Australia and NZ. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/07/samoa-driving-left-changes
  
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- Pete Zaitcev on Jul 16, 2013
  
  @TonyJZX And a billion of Chinese. 140 million of Russians, another 40 Ukrainians or so... What's your point, Mr. Fin?
  
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- TonyJZX on Jul 16, 2013
  
  @Pete Zaitcev i dont see Chinese or Russians getting on their high horse here... that's the point that seems to be a lovely American trait
  
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Ion on Jul 16, 2013

I've seen a couple of companies that do conversions kits for Mustangs, silverados and corvettes for the Australian market. They looked pricey and they must not have sold in vast numbers or ford wouldve moved to put them down alot sooner. In a way this will be like when they took out the aftermarket convertible companies in the 80s

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- Pete Zaitcev on Jul 16, 2013
  
  It's much easier to permit LHD on the road and be done with it. Worked great for Japanese. Russians use the opposite system where they import a bunch of used Japanese cars that drive on the right side just fine.
  
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Big Al from Oz on Jul 16, 2013

It's good that the Mustang is coming over here. We don't have much of a market for pretend muscle cars with V6s. As for the cost, it isn't that high considering what the cost are here. I would also think the Mustang will not be a 'base' V8 either. That wouldn't sell here either. People in the US must realise the average wage in Australia is about $65k USD a year. Minimum wage is $35k USD a year. So the cost of living in total is about 33% higher than in the US.

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- Dolorean on Jul 16, 2013
  
  Yeah nah mate, the cost of living may be higher but y'all got Drop Bears and Bunyips and I heard the outback is rapidly being overrun with Camels! Don't get me started with your health care system and college loan payback system and....
  
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- Big Al from Oz on Jul 16, 2013
  
  @Dolorean It appears you are a fan of Kelly's Hero's, great movie and Donald Sutherland played a great role. At the moment we are doing okay, but I hope it can continue on. I think our college (university) payback system is the best in the world, it isn't free, but everyone has one bite at the cherry, so to speak. The down side is if you go to university and fail, that's it, kaput, you don't get another go at it unless you foot the bill. The government also scales the cost of disciplines according to demand, so if we need engineers, engineering degrees are cheaper, but if there are to many lawyers the cost of a degree in law becomes expensive. The payback is quite simple, I think the students are levied an additional 3% when they start working and earn above the minimum wage of $35k a year. So it isn't free, but well thought out.
  
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- RobertRyan on Jul 16, 2013
  
  @Big Al From Oz, Seeing the two original Monaro's were niche vehicles in the Australian market and that Coupe's are treated the same way as hatchbacks and station wagons are in the US, i am a loss what Ford sees so important about this rather small coupe? Their European cars are not selling here, The Ranger is being well and truly outsold by the now aging Japanese competition. One bright light is the locally produced Territory and they will drop that when they stop producing the Falcon. I predict Ford will totally desert the Australian market by 2018.
  
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- Big Al from Oz on Jul 17, 2013
  
  @RobertRyan You have to remember quantity wasn't the game back in the 60s and 70s. All they needed was to sell 150 vehicles to gain homologation into the Touring Car rounds. That's why the GTHO is worth so much, it's rarity. It was a no brainer to sell the Mustang back then in Australia as it was just a 2 door Falcon. I don't know how well the Mustang will sell here. I think Ford hasn't done their homework to well. We never sold that many 2 door performance vehicles to the masses. We are a sedan country due to our Touring Car racing scene. But I believe in a free market, so give them a chance. The Ranger has made some inroads this year in the ute market. But not nearly enough. Its the cost of them, they are way to high. I can go out and buy a D20 4x4 diesel Navara dual cab diesel with power everything, AC etc for $33k, why would you spend another $20k on a Ranger. The same for the Mitsubishi Triton, they are going out for $39k. The Navara is going out for $42k, these are all mid range vehicles. I got my Mazda a couple of months after it was released for $46k plus drive away cost on top which took it to $51k (including roo bar/tow package). I have heard even Hiluxes can be had with a big discount if you push. So maybe the companies are being a little to greedy with some models. What we are developing is a triple layered ute market, cheap stuff (Chinese/Korean/Indian) then mid price (Triton/Navara) then expensive (BT50/Ranger/Hilux/Amarok). But back to the Mustang. I do hope things work out for Ford or they will have a market share like Chrysler, not so big.
  
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