News

Ford's Mustang plant in US stops line to accommodate PH units

By Vernon B. Sarne —

Ford Mustang assembly

See the photo above? That's the actual cockpit of the 2013 Mustang GT that Ford Group Philippines lent us this week. Not sure if you can spot it clearly, but the speedometer in the instrument cluster shows mph (miles per hour) readings, with smaller kph (kilometers per hour) readings serving as a mere supplement. This means this is a US-market unit.

"The Philippine-market units will arrive soon, just in time for the actual sales," Prudz Castillo, FGP's assistant vice president for marketing (passenger cars), told us.

To assemble the Philippine-bound Mustangs--with kph speedometers, underchassis reinforcement, and fittings and seals designed to withstand harsh conditions in our hot, humid and pothole-riddled country--Ford's manufacturing facility for the Mustang in Flat Rock, Michigan, had to stop its assembly line for a week in order to squeeze in FGP's orders.

And just how many Philippine-market Mustangs did FGP ask its parent company to put together?

"We can't divulge that," said Castillo.

He did say, however, how much it cost Ford to sort of retool the Mustang assembly line to produce our market-specific units. "It cost them $100,000," he revealed.

So Ford produced our Mustangs in one go. But what happens after FGP sells out its Mustang inventory?

"We'll place an order again and they'll accommodate our request again," Castillo replied.

Do you think Ford Group Philippines will be able to sell out its first batch of Mustangs? Take our poll.

Photo by Paulo Subido

 

Will Ford Group Philippines sell out its initial stock of Mustangs?

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  • machine 10 months ago
     
    1st... :)
        8
    • myk384 10 months ago
       
      First daw siya, bigyan yan ng Magnum :))
         
    • Kyoichi Sudo 10 months ago
       
      WEW! As if you'll win a Mustang GT if you're the first one to comment.....
         
    • JFLising 10 months ago
       
      O ngayon?
         
    • jayzeter19 10 months ago
       
      did you win something other than being PAWNED?? :D
         
  • Vernon B. Sarne
    Vernon B. Sarne 10 months ago
     
    What's the point of being able to post a comment "first"? Is there a trophy or cash prize for this?
        2
    • warak1422 10 months ago
       
      haha
         
    • RS500 10 months ago
       
      meron sir. Award for most useless comment in the world wide web :)
         
    • jayzeter19 10 months ago
       
      award for THE MOST EPIC FAIL COMMENT perhaps?? :)
         
  • LoremIpsum 10 months ago
     
    well i hope dalhin nila ung 3.5 mustang, 5.0 are so....argh...
        3
    • carwiki 10 months ago
       
      Agree.
         
    • Stephmeister101 10 months ago
       
      It's the price you pay for the power you want. But the V8 engine of the mustang's consumption is really not that bad compared to other V8's. It's a new era for automobiles, most cars are now fuel-efficient and americans are learning to be fuel efficient too. The europeans have done it already
         
    • RS500 10 months ago
       
      hmm tingin ko di ko na iisipin ung fuel consumption ko pag may mustang na ako. kaya nga ako bumili ng V8 para i-enjoy. mag Alto na lang ako kung magtitipid lang ako sa gas...
         
    • gogogo 10 months ago
       
      kung fuel consumption lang naman iisipin ko hindi ko maiisipan bumili ng mustang. at kung makakabili man ako ngayon ng mustang hindi na issue sa akin yung gastos sa gas saka di naman yan pang araw araw na sasakyan. :)
         
  • robin_micmac 10 months ago
     
    not here to spoil the hype..but im just not buying the 'stop the line' claim. first of all we are not the only country using kph speedos and if ever we are the only one, having a kph speedo is just an additional derivative to the Mustang speedo or should i say an additional suffix to its part number.$100,000 is a very small tooling cost for a company such as ford and if the Philippine bound Mustang needs special reinforcement etc, it still wont need to stop the line to do that. It will just be added in one of the stations in the production line where they can add this necessary reinforcement to the car. Being a Ford and Ford who invented the moving assembly line, a line stoppage would be the last thing you'll ever want. I would imagine it would be in the figure of $25,000 per minute of line stoppage at least. so if you stop it for a week, just do the maths. Cars these days are now globally designed and special needs for specific markets were considered very early in the program.
        1
    • AM3 10 months ago
       
      The current generation Mustang is one of the Ford models developed mainly for the North American market, development of the S197 Mustang began before Alan Mulally arrived at Ford. Its the next generation 2015 Mustang that will be a global model.
         
      • robin_micmac 10 months ago
         
        Even if its a mainly North American market car, its still won't have a thousand parts different to the Philippine market Mustang. The tooling cost of $100,000 maybe justified to make a KPH speedo. They could then release the part to the same station in the line installing the instrument cluster and just add one more bin of parts lineside. but stopping the line to accomodate cars heading to our country just doesnt stack up correctly. How many cars are we talking about? I would probably assumed that Ford stopped the line for 1 week and it is probably due to a scheduled plant shutdown. I could just imagine how grumpy those Ford Execs would be if they see their assembly line come to a grinding halt. Stopping the line means you are not building cars and your workers are still in the factory doing nothing and you are still paying them
           
        • Vernon B. Sarne
          Vernon B. Sarne 10 months ago
           
          Not sure if you understood the story. They didn't stop the line to do nothing. They stopped the line (meaning the production of the US-market Mustangs) to assemble the Philippine-market Mustangs.
             
          • robin_micmac 10 months ago
             
            understood the story chief. they did not stop to do nothing. crystal clear. Im just not convinced that you need to stop the line of the US market Mustang to assemble the Philippine-market Mustang. unless FGP ordered 2000 units of special editions that was engineered to order. They are one and the same cars and will be using majority of the same parts. If its an entirely new model then that would require line stoppage to squeeze it into the production line because they probably need brand new tooling to add on the line as well. just sharing first hand info chief. Anyway, Mustang fan here and i'm happy it reached the Philippines via FGP with all proper Ford warranty. No need to make sound very special =)
               
            • Allain 10 months ago
               
              If this is the US version bakit di na lang yung Middle East version pinadala nila sa FGP? Middle East version is using KPH since 2010. $100,000 to retool the PH Version? I don't think so. Maybe $100,000 to retool the version outside the US.
                 
              • robin_micmac 10 months ago
                 
                $100,000 tooling cost is a pretty reasonable amount. but i agree with you $100,000 for tooling is too much to cater a market where you've just recently ceased your plant's operation because the market is not big enough..
                   
  • aeronTGco 10 months ago
     
    If the price is right!
       
  • neutral 10 months ago
     
    I remember the Expedition bought in the USA and shipped here by a balikbayan(circa '90), that he was impressed and bought another Expedition for his wife but this time from local dealers. According to him, the two Expeditions were very different and the one bought from USA was far more better than what he bought locally. Different specs at the expense of products sold locally?, he asked men from Ford. The answer was________, very silent.hmmmm, no comment. What will be the outcome of the Mustang designed for Philippine market, superior or inferior? Just asking?
       
    • AM3 10 months ago
       
      I doubt there will be any issues like that. This is 2012, Ford USA is a very different company now, much much improved. I'm not sure about myths like those, perhaps he just bought a lemon.
         
    • Feeter Silverster 10 months ago
       
      Must be more superior than US spec, because they have added reinforcements on the chassis.
          1
  • Kyoichi Sudo 10 months ago
     
    Um question, will the PH-bound Mustang GTs have the fancy LCD touchscreen monitor shown in the Picture?
       
  • Stephmeister101 10 months ago
     
    Now that is what i call customer service... Unlike some companies i know who spent so much time in advertising and promoting but has no stocks when you need one. Mustang is also sold worldwide and yet they did what they had to do to provide each and every customer
        1
    • RS500 10 months ago
       
      tingnan muna natin kung ilan ang madadala nila. baka naman 50 lang tas may nakapila pang 100 .
         
  • RS500 10 months ago
     
    ahh un lang. kung di sana nila i-sasara ung plant nila dito sa pinas pwede nilang import directly ung US-market Mustang tas dito na sa pinas gagawin ung palit ng speedo, underchassis reinforcement, seals, at iba pa.
       
  • GBfive 10 months ago
     
    another PR stuff.....
       
  • someonespecialisme 10 months ago
     
    always better to get a local mustang rather than get a US Spec...or if possible..get a dubai spec..the problem with US spec is that they're not designed to withstand our year long heat....they have winter and spring to cool off...
       
  • machine 10 months ago
     
    gay... lol!
        1
  • Aloha Milkyway 10 months ago
     
    I'll only buy this if
    1. I had the money and
    2.) If it came in Norman Black
       
  • Albert824 10 months ago
     
    Kung may 2litre lang sanang mustang, ibebenta ko na balls ko mabili kalang.
       
    • John Rigor 10 months ago
       
      Why not look at the Ford Focus ST? :)
         
  • patrick_j 10 months ago
     
    but seriously, no 6 speed manual?
       
  • cryss 10 months ago
     
    The 5.0GT V8 for less than Php3M is a steal for its price. You get a lot of hp and an iconic car. No wonder Carlos Gono of Autoplus got one. He's right,you can buy a Japanese car and tune it but to get thesame hp you need to spend a fortune or thesame amount of the car unlike in the mustang.
       
  • isaac3654 10 months ago
     
    I love how vivid the Philippine automotive market is. Yes its not exactly the highest selling by amount of units, but it has the most variety. If I'm not mistaken, PH is the only country in Southeast Asia that has American, and by American, I mean PURE American cars. Designed, researched and built in America, such as, Mustang, Camaro, Challenger, Charger, Expedition, Explorer, Suburban, Tahoe, etc.
       
    • docmart70 10 months ago
       
      only the suburban and tahoe are, as you say, PURE american designed and built. but the others you mentioned are not: the mustang's RWD platform was designed by Jaguar engineers; the camaro was designed and engineered by holden in australia and built in canada; both the challenger and charger was engineered with mercedes and also built in canada and the explorer's platform was designed by volvo and engineered by land rover same with the expedition. just FYI
         
  • John Rigor 10 months ago
     
    I hope the Ford would not follow what Toyota did with the FT-86. Too much advertisement, too little allocated units.
       
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