Well, I didn't buy the truck, so I am not complaining that I paid too much for my truck. What you are not understanding is that I drove past a lot every single day last year that had a row of 350/450 king ranch, crew cab duallys for $45k. Now I drive by and see LESS of a truck priced at $63k. So let me say it again, last year I could have gotten their top of the line truck for $45k and this year they are asking $63k for a middle of the line truck.

 

"Powertrain" has been 5/60 since mid '06. The 6.7L motor is still 5/100 according to the warranty guide I just downloaded.

 

You americans should consider yourselfs lucky.

The list price for my 08 5.4L XLT was $48,000. Diesal would have added another $9,000 to that.

I talked the dealer down $4,000, but taxes still brought the price up well over the 50g mark.

In 08, a fully loaded KR diesal CC LB was listed around the 70g in Canada.

 

You priced a 6.2 gas truck (base level engine) and for nothing but an xlt with no upgrades for $42k. The $63k I am talking about is with a diesel and compared to the higher level diesel I looked at last year for almost $20k less. I know you can get them for less than sticker price, but what I am saying is that king ranch I looked at last year had a sticker price of $50k (but asking $45k) and the lariat I looked at the other day had a sticker price of $63k(and asking $63k).

I don't know how your dealers work, but the ones around here don't care what the build and price sheet says. You can order what you want and get the price you want from Ford, but once it hits their lot, they charge what they want for it. If the build sheet says $45k and they want to sell it for $63k, they are going to sell it for $63k. When the Challenger first came out a few years ago, they were going for over $60k on a few of the Dodge lots even though the sticker was around $30k. Same for the GT-500. They were getting $75k out of them with a $45k sticker. The GT was going for $175k with a $125k sticker.

 

I just don't get why you are comparing the sticker price of a brand new truck that has just come out with probably no rebates or incentives yet, to a truck that has obviously been heavily marked down by the dealer. How long had those $45k King Ranches you saw been sitting on the lot? Were they '09 or '10 models?

 

The king ranch I saw was a $50k sticker with a $5k mark down for a total of $45k. The truck I saw the other day was a lower trim level, less options, shorter bed, srw, etc, and the sticker price on it was $63k. Even comparing sticker vs sticker it was $13k more for a lot less of a truck. I don't know how long they had been sitting on the lot, but it wasn't too long before they marked them down. All but two sold within a month or two of when I first saw them. Those two sat there for about the entire year, but kept the same $45k price.

It's not just the trucks that have gone up like that either. I wanted an 09 Mustang gt last year. I built it like I wanted it, fully loaded, leather, etc, and it was $26k. I heard a new body style was coming out in 2010, so I decided to wait. The 2010 body style comes out(nothing but sheet metal changes) and I priced it with the exact same options and it was $34k. Now that the 2011 is going to have the 5.0, I am going to wait for it, but more than likely it will be $40k at the rate they are going.

 

There are two primary reasons that new vehicle prices are increasing:

1. Supply & Demand - Due to the economy, unemployment, and personal debt, the average American can no longer afford a new vehicle. Therefore, demand has decreased. However, the manufacturers have excess capacity and have responded in two ways: layoffs and increased prices. Remember, the executives still have to receive multi-million dollar bonuses! If the total number of units sold have dramatically decreased, the only way to maintain total profits is to increase the selling prices.

2. Value of the US Dollar - The every growing national (government) debt has decreased the value of the US dollar on the global market. American companies are paying more for products manufactured over seas. This too is contributing the increased cost and subsequent selling price of new vehicles.

 

We have a dealership that still has a Ford GT on the showroom. The price is $350,000! It just sits there in the showroom doing nothing. Every time you walk into the dealership, you will see several people around the car looking at it.
Ted Russell Ford priced this car so that either they will not sell it and just use it for advertising purposes, or they will get somebody who is uber-rich and will buy the car regardless of the cost.
The new SD has such a hype, that the dealerships have priced them high. This is not Ford, it is the dealership. They want people to come in and take a look at the new F-350, then buy a 150 if they can't afford it. Plus, there are TONS of people who are willing to pay that price for the newest toy on the block, and this is hat the dealerships are after.
Same thing with the $64K Raptor at a Nashville stealership that I saw a few months ago, and found out that my Knox dealer can get for $34K. Same thing with the $37K V6 Mustang back in 2005. Once the demand goes down, the dealership will lower the prices.

 

Dollar value is something that us Canadians are very used to dealing with.

 

The way supply and demand works in the normal world though, is when demand goes down and supply stays the same, you lower the price to move the goods. If you are selling corn at a farmers market for $2 an ear and no one is buying it, you don't jack the price up to $4 an ear to offset the cost of producing the corn. You lower the price to $1 an ear, sell more corn and just make a little less profit. But like you said, the CEO isn't going cut his big bonus and million dollar salary.

It's the same way with oil/gas. When we use more gas, they say demand is too high for supply and they have to raise the price(normal supply and demand). But when we get more fuel efficient cars and demand goes down, the price goes up because they aren't making as much of a profit and they have to keep their big salaries.

 

There are still a lot of 2010's around. Probably '09 too, although I haven't looked. You won't see very good deals on 2011's until the old stock is gone.

I just don't see where the prices went up much for 2011. Not even $1k. Which would be a lot, but would not explain $60k+ MSRP's.

 

Yes and no. A firm will not lower the price to the point that MB is in the negative. If they do that, they will effectively price themselves right out of the market. Even if the demand out there is at the point to were the firm should/need to lower the price. If price of the good does not cover AVC then the firm(according to economic theory) should fold up shop. Unless you as the consumer know what the AVC is for each individual firm, you can't say that they should or shouldn't lower the cost. The firm may not have a choice in the matter.

I'm not saying that this is the case with Ford, however, there is nothing in this thread to show that it isn't a possibility.

In your corn example(I'm going to go with the ag. example as that is what my degrees are in), the original price is 2, but the price that is demanded is 1, however the farmer or the firm has to sell corn atleast at the base price of 1.50 to have MB=MC. If they move it down to 1 then they will be making no profit at all, even if they do sell more, they aren't covering their costs. Unless that is remedied within a very short term, it isn't going to be good for that farmer and/or firm. You have to understand, everything in economics is done at the margin. What cost and/or benefit does that one extra unit bought or sold give the person and/or firm. If "you" are short .50 with every ear of corn that you sell, it doesn't matter if you sell a million ears, each one of those million are short .50 of covering your costs.

 

BINGO! Great example!

 

I came out of a hotel this morning and next to my work truck was a truckload of new 2011 super duty's. I got out my flashlight and was able to do a good snoop around, especially underneath them There was a f350 crewcab lariat with the 6.7l on the bottom. I didn't read the whole sticker but the bottom line was $57,782. Way too much for me! I'll keep my '05.

 

Come on, Josh! Are you reading what I quoted?

I was responding to your thinking back in 2008 that $45K was outrageous for a C 4x4 V10 truck. I'll quote you AGAIN!

You said you built the same truck, which was a CC XLT manual tranny V10. I built the same truck on their site for $42K this morning. I'm sure you had some options in there, but the point I'm making is that they prices simply haven't gone up that much!