Car News

​6506 people applied to buy a Ford GT. Ford is only building 500.

The four-week window to apply to purchase a new Ford GT has now closed, and Ford now has a list of 6506 people who completed the application for one of 500 cars that will be built in the first two years of production. Now the anxious waiting begins.

Although 6006 will be getting the equivalent of rejection letters from Ford—meaning purchase applicants have about a 1-in-13 chance of being approved—the odds actually could have been worse. Only a week after the application window was opened, Ford released a statement saying 7000 would-be buyers had applied – but that was actually an overstatement. You see, Ford was counting people who had started, but had not finished, a purchase application for the $400,000 car. In the end, more than 10,000 applications were started, but some 4000 applicants either never finished, never submitted, never accepted the terms and conditions, or otherwise flaked out, knocking themselves out of contention.

The company says it will be reviewing the applications and begin notifying the lucky winners over the next three months, with deliveries promised to start by the end of the year.

The Ford GT’s optional carbon fibre wheels

ford-gt-wheels

The new Ford GT is the second Ford vehicle to offer carbon-fibre wheels from the factory, with the optional wheels measuring in at 20″ x 8.5″ up front, and 20″ x 11.5″ at the rear. They’re also more than 1kg / 2lbs lighter per wheel than the standard, forged aluminium wheels, which Ford says reduces inertia by 25%.

The lighter the wheel then, the less the suspension has to work to “control the hardware attached to it”. So Ford reckons these carbon fibre wheels will improve consistent road contact, aid traction, improve the steering feel and handling, and even provide efficiency improvements. Not only will these wheels make the GT sharper, they’ll also make it quieter inside, helping comfort and refinement.

Like the price of the GT, the cost of opting for the carbon-fibre wheels remains a state secret. To get some idea, though, we see that Ford lists the cost of replacement carbon-fibre wheels on a GT350R at $4053.33 per front wheel and $3043.33 per rear wheel, or more than $14,000 for an entire set.

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1 comment

the guy with no name May 18, 2016 at 7:04 am

This is going to end in a bidding war lol

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