Are you waiting for your chance to get a 2015 Mustang of your very own? Well, if you are the impatient sort, I suggest that you head to the Barrett-Jackson auction, where the very first of the new generation of pony car will be sold on January 18th.
While it does bring the meaning of ‘2015’ into question to sell the new car in the first month of 2014, there is precedent for this sort of publicity stunt. The very first 2014 Corvette Stingray was also sold at the Barrett-Jackson auction. And if that Corvette is any marker, expect the Mustang to sell for a bundle. The auctioned Stingray went for $1.1 million, just a little bit more than the base MSRP of $51,000.
But don’t worry; the money is going to a good cause. The purchase price of the first retail Mustang will be donated to JDRF to fund juvenile diabetes research.
So, other than donating to charity, why would someone pay an outrageous sum for a car they could get for much less in a few months? Steve Davis, the president of Barrett-Jackson, put it very well when he said, “While every collector wishes they had snapped up the first Mustang sold in 1964, this is an opportunity to realize that dream in a different way.”
The auction strategy doesn’t just commemorate the importance of 50 years of Mustangs, it also helps to build excitement about the new car. Certainly the 2015 Mustang is not a low-profile release. Given the importance of its success to Ford, though, it’s unsurprising that Ford is willing to pull out all the stops for this one.
The winner of the auction will be taking home a GT version with the 420 horsepower V8 and their choice of transmission and paint. My vote goes for manual, with white racing stripes on blue. Sadly, I don’t think I have half-a-million-dollars in quarters in my couch.
