1993 Ford Ranger Xlt Standard Cab Pickup 2-door 4.0l Automatic V-6 on 2040-cars

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Dealers price gouging Ford Mustang 50th Anniversary Edition by up to $20k [UPDATE]

UPDATE: Sheehy Ford's Cory Belcher got back to us, confirming that the price premium was related to the limited nature of the 50th Anniversary Mustang and that the figure listed was based on what other dealers were charging, while adding that the dealership was "very flexible" on the final price of the special edition car. So while there remains a hefty markup, it's possible that consumers could get out the door without spending quite so much over MSRP. It's no secret that dealers take some – let's call them "liberties" – with the prices on vehicles that are very new, highly in demand or available in very limited numbers. As we've explained before, they're well within their rights to charge so-called market value adjustments. We don't usually see these adjustments on mainstream vehicles, though. Then again, you could argue that the 2015 Ford Mustang 50th Anniversary Edition is not necessarily a mainstream vehicle. It starts at $46,170, which isn't peanuts, but it's still a Mustang. There's still a large portion of the buying public that could put one in their driveway, if they so chose. Then again, maybe they can't. That's because dealers are (still) issuing massive premiums on top of MSRP for the limited-edition model. It's happening at Sheehy Ford Gaithersburg, where a salesperson named Lou confirmed to Autoblog that the dealership is charging around $20,000 over MSRP on not one, but two Anniversary Editions. He explained that Sheehy isn't alone in the upcharge: "We like to see what other dealers are asking for," he told us, in reference to the limited edition 'Stang. We have a message in for the dealership's general manager for deeper info, too, and will update this post when/if we hear back. We corroborated Lou's story, though, with another Maryland area dealer, Century Ford, who confirmed that the $46,995 listed on the dealer's website for its Wimbledon White Anniversary car was incorrect, and the actual price was "around $64,000." He echoed Lou's reasoning for the upcharge, while adding that dealers are likely only going to see one or two examples, of the 1,964 produced. Perhaps the most worrying part of this entire affair is the sense of deceit that accompanies it. Neither of the dealers we spoke to copped to the market value adjustments on their website. We had to call and ask specifically about the cars in question to get the actual price.

Ford's Farley will challenge dealers to cut EV cost to customers by $2,000

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co Chief Executive Jim Farley will go to Las Vegas next week to roll the dice on a strategy to convince dealers to cut as much as $2,000 from the cost of delivering an electric vehicle to a customer. Ford has told dealers that one key topic for the meetings will be a discussion of new agreements that would govern how dealers sell Ford's expanding lineup of electric vehicles. Farley told analysts in July that Ford needs to cut $2,000 a vehicle out of selling and distribution costs to be competitive with Tesla Inc and other electric vehicle startups that sell directly to consumers without franchised dealers. About a third of those savings could come from what Farley called a "low inventory model," where customers order a vehicle and Ford ships it to the customer, rather than stocking vehicles on dealer lots for weeks or months. "We think that's about -- worth maybe $600, $700 in our system," Farley told analysts. Tesla can also adjust prices rapidly on its website, and keep most of the gain from a price increase. Ford declined to comment other than to say “we are excited to meet next week with our North America dealers to grow and win together.” Dealers said they expect Ford to outline minimum investments for charging stations and other equipment to support electric vehicle customers. A key question will be how quickly dealers will be required to install chargers, which dealers said can cost as much as $500,000. "The manufacturers so far have let us scale into it and I think Ford will hopefully do the same thing. You just can't say, 'Listen, we're going to sell 2 million electric cars five years from now and we expect you to put in five superchargers,'" said Rhett Ricart, owner of Ricart Ford, a large dealership in Columbus, Ohio. Tesla's success at selling electric vehicles without franchised dealers is putting pressure on all established automakers to overhaul their retail networks. A shift by Ford to a Tesla-style build to order system could come with caps on the profit margins dealers can earn on a new vehicle sale, some dealers said. "I see dealer margins still being very competitive, but they are going to shift," Farley said in July. Ford intends to put more emphasis on selling products and services after the initial vehicle sale, he said. Dealers said state franchise laws could give dealers leverage to resist efforts by Ford to set fixed prices or fixed fees for delivering electric vehicles.

Top horsepower-per-dollar cars in 2017

Bang for the buck. That quasi-scientific statistic is bandied about by motor heads everywhere from classrooms to barrooms, though the truth of the matter is that it's exceedingly complex to measure. A fair performance-per-dollar index would include something like cross-referencing MSRP (Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price) with point-to-point times on a track or driving route, which is obviously hard to do comprehensively. But, for the sheer joy of talking about cars and playing with a big spreadsheet, there's always the horsepower-per-dollar index, which is more straightforward, albeit hilariously flawed. There are vagaries even with this simple formula, of course: MSRP for vehicles can change at a moment's notice, to say nothing of the bottom-line shifting that happens with local deals or showroom negotiation. For this list we're running with the straight MSRP wherever possible, and as recently reported as we can get it. All the vehicles on this list are 2017 models, and all trims are reported where the lowest price and differing power levels intersect. Some choices were made for personal preference and some for sanity, avoiding things like all 48 trim levels of the Ford Transit, all with the same horsepower). If this list were a simple top ten, or even a top fifty, you'd be bored to tears with all the red, white and blue that is represented. Following perfectly with conventional wisdom, American cars really do lead the world where hp/$ is concerned. So, for the sake of variety (and the sheer joy of seeing a minivan 'win' one round of this thing) I've sorted out some top five and bottom five lists for broad power categories. Let's dive in. Less Than 100 Horsepower Okay, okay, this is hardly a category we'll grant you. But we've often tried to click off all the sub-100-hp cars on sale in the US, and making this list gave us an excuse. It also illustrates that none of these smallish vehicles bring cheap horsepower to the table - for that you'll need a motorcycle. The segment-leading Chevy Spark (above) asks just over $139 for each hp, and that Smart Fortwo Electric Drive has hp on sale for about the same price as its very distant family cousin, the Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG (insert your favorite Smart joke here... we know you want to).