About 1,650 units into the 2014 build campaign so far, Black on Black far and away continues to be the most popular color combination with almost 1/4 of all cars so configured and about 35% of all cars being Black with other stripe combinations (being Delete, Red and White in order of popularity).
But the REAL surprise for 2014 is the resurgence of Sterling Gray Metallic which, after having taken a brief recent one-year hiatus, is now neck and neck with Ruby Red as the second most popular color with less than 10 units' difference and accounting for about 13% of all cars made so far after SGM would tend to comprise between 5% and 7% of previous years' cars (when offered), usually combining with Ingot Silver Metallic to account for about 10% overall.
RRM is a terrific color, but never underestimate Ford's desire to exploit the extra margin which is HUGELY profitable on a per-car basis and red being a readily embraced GT500 color in ways a GHIG could and would NEVER be. But SGM continues to be the real surprise from prior years with Eleanor apparently being VERY en vogue. Somebody should check the current baby name list.
Race Red, which has usually occupied the slot just behind whatever dark blue shade Ford may be using (i.e. Kona, Sonic, Deep Impact), has taken a notable hit from RRM's popularity. White remains a pretty consistent and popular choice relative to prior years (usually just behind the total red(s) and dark blue, as does Ingot Silver and Grabber Blue which each never seem to climb much higher than 4-5%.
The big DOWNWARD shift is in Deep Impact Blue which would traditionally be a lock for number two. It's now a solid fifth, accounting for just about 10% so far.
Stripe-wise, across all colors, Black remains the far-and-away leader with almost 50% of cars bearing them. A FAR distant second is Performance White with fewer than 25% of cars, Stripe Delete at slightly MORE than 10%, and Medium Red outpacing Sonic Blue by a hair with about 9% and 7% respectively.
'14 Coupes again remain hugely popular versus traditional ratios to Convertibles at they did in '13, with about 5:1 versus 3:1 from 2010 through 2012, which only makes sense given the 5.8's Convertible's continued speed restriction to the same as the 5.4 and being a disproportionately much less aggressive car versus the Coupe. Personally, were I in the market for JUST a '13/'14 Convertible, I wouldn't bother with the Performance Package which will tend to go unexploited for the most part and just enjoy it for the fun-to-drive ballsy drop-top tourer it can be so well by being configured as comfortable as possible - but that's just me editorializing. As usual, Canada continues to receive a disproportionate number of Convertibles - as it tends to do every year. Go figger.
Otherwise, as far as Coupes go the far-and-away most popular option combination is fully-loaded minus the Glass Roof. Such configurations with and without the Car Cover account for more than more than 30% of all Coupes so far. The next most popular configuration drops the Shaker Subwoofer and accounts for about 8%. Only about 4% of all cars are fully-loaded (with or without the car cover) with barely more than 50 such cars in existence. From there, individual configurations quickly drop to the 0-2% range with more than half of all cars being configured in feature combinations comprising fewer than 1.5% of the overall each and about 1 in 3 cars being uniquely configured enough to comprise less than 1%.
If you want a coupe with JUST a Shaker Sub or a Glass Roof but no Car Cover, only one such car may exist, and it may not be the color you want. (Though most such cars are retail orders made for individual buyers anyway). But just to give an example, about 6% cars are absolutely one-of-a-kind configurations optionwise. About 8% exist in two-or-fewer form (and may be of different colors). About 11% of all cars exist in three-or-fewer form and about 20% of all cars consist of option combinations that exist in numbers of 5 or fewer (again, with the possibility of being different colors).
So, that's how the 2014 GT500 population is shaping up about 1/3 (I'm guessing) into the 2014 campaign. Hope it's some interesting trivia.
But the REAL surprise for 2014 is the resurgence of Sterling Gray Metallic which, after having taken a brief recent one-year hiatus, is now neck and neck with Ruby Red as the second most popular color with less than 10 units' difference and accounting for about 13% of all cars made so far after SGM would tend to comprise between 5% and 7% of previous years' cars (when offered), usually combining with Ingot Silver Metallic to account for about 10% overall.
RRM is a terrific color, but never underestimate Ford's desire to exploit the extra margin which is HUGELY profitable on a per-car basis and red being a readily embraced GT500 color in ways a GHIG could and would NEVER be. But SGM continues to be the real surprise from prior years with Eleanor apparently being VERY en vogue. Somebody should check the current baby name list.
Race Red, which has usually occupied the slot just behind whatever dark blue shade Ford may be using (i.e. Kona, Sonic, Deep Impact), has taken a notable hit from RRM's popularity. White remains a pretty consistent and popular choice relative to prior years (usually just behind the total red(s) and dark blue, as does Ingot Silver and Grabber Blue which each never seem to climb much higher than 4-5%.
The big DOWNWARD shift is in Deep Impact Blue which would traditionally be a lock for number two. It's now a solid fifth, accounting for just about 10% so far.
Stripe-wise, across all colors, Black remains the far-and-away leader with almost 50% of cars bearing them. A FAR distant second is Performance White with fewer than 25% of cars, Stripe Delete at slightly MORE than 10%, and Medium Red outpacing Sonic Blue by a hair with about 9% and 7% respectively.
'14 Coupes again remain hugely popular versus traditional ratios to Convertibles at they did in '13, with about 5:1 versus 3:1 from 2010 through 2012, which only makes sense given the 5.8's Convertible's continued speed restriction to the same as the 5.4 and being a disproportionately much less aggressive car versus the Coupe. Personally, were I in the market for JUST a '13/'14 Convertible, I wouldn't bother with the Performance Package which will tend to go unexploited for the most part and just enjoy it for the fun-to-drive ballsy drop-top tourer it can be so well by being configured as comfortable as possible - but that's just me editorializing. As usual, Canada continues to receive a disproportionate number of Convertibles - as it tends to do every year. Go figger.
Otherwise, as far as Coupes go the far-and-away most popular option combination is fully-loaded minus the Glass Roof. Such configurations with and without the Car Cover account for more than more than 30% of all Coupes so far. The next most popular configuration drops the Shaker Subwoofer and accounts for about 8%. Only about 4% of all cars are fully-loaded (with or without the car cover) with barely more than 50 such cars in existence. From there, individual configurations quickly drop to the 0-2% range with more than half of all cars being configured in feature combinations comprising fewer than 1.5% of the overall each and about 1 in 3 cars being uniquely configured enough to comprise less than 1%.
If you want a coupe with JUST a Shaker Sub or a Glass Roof but no Car Cover, only one such car may exist, and it may not be the color you want. (Though most such cars are retail orders made for individual buyers anyway). But just to give an example, about 6% cars are absolutely one-of-a-kind configurations optionwise. About 8% exist in two-or-fewer form (and may be of different colors). About 11% of all cars exist in three-or-fewer form and about 20% of all cars consist of option combinations that exist in numbers of 5 or fewer (again, with the possibility of being different colors).
So, that's how the 2014 GT500 population is shaping up about 1/3 (I'm guessing) into the 2014 campaign. Hope it's some interesting trivia.