Have Focus ST's lost their luster?

"blacktruck18" (blacktruck14)
08/23/2016 at 09:53 • Filed to: None

I was doing my usual morning internet playing around just now and happened to find these on cars.com.

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Ignore the first one (in the link) but the next five are all seem to be in the same dealer family and about $6,000 off MSRP. I know nothing about the Focus ST market and it could very easily turn into “Sorry, you don’t qualify for those discounts,” thing at the dealer but, almost 1/4 off of these makes me think they aren’t selling very well anymore.

I test drove one shortly after they came out and it was pretty fun. With the ST’s being way more practical than the Toybaru twins I would think they would not suffer the same fate as those, it looks like they are though.

DISCUSSION (17)

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > blacktruck18
08/23/2016 at 10:03

They’re not selling bad, but I think it’s a combination of 1) Manual only limits sales, 2) Focus STs have a fair amount of profit in them so there is room to fall on the price 3) The WRX and FoRS are not that much more money than MSRP of a FoST. 4) Hooligan cars lose value fast.

Try this - take a look at that inventory now, and see how many get sold in a week. My local ford dealership gets 2-5 in per month(ish) and they’re always gone by the middle of the month. Sure, they have 2-4k on the hood in discounts but still, they move out in a hurry.

MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig > blacktruck18
08/23/2016 at 10:13

Fiesta ST’s are selling for wicked cheap too. I saw one listed on a local dealership’s site brand new without the Recaro stuff for like $16-17k.

blacktruck18 > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
08/23/2016 at 10:16

I would think Ford would take the manual only deal into consideration when they build them so they won’t end up with a bunch left over. As you said though if they have a large profit margin built in they are still making money on them they might as well take the chance of someone actually paying MSRP for one before discounting them.

I will have to keep my eye on these and see how quick they sell.

jariten1781 > blacktruck18
08/23/2016 at 10:20

Nah, that's where they've been for years, back in late 2013 ST1s were going for cheaper than FiSTs and I imagine that's still the case. Everytime I've looks, with incentives ST1s are in the ~20-22ish range, ST2s 23-24, ST3s 25-30. Occasionally ST1s will dip under 20.

raspaa > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
08/23/2016 at 10:25

Hooligan cars don’t all lose value fast. WRX/STi, Evo keep their value quite well!

blacktruck18 > jariten1781
08/23/2016 at 10:31

I test drove an ST1 in late 2013, I remember it having $1,000 dollars off. After I test drove that one I bought something else and basically stopped paying attention to them I guess these prices aren’t too far out of the normal range.

jjhats > blacktruck18
08/23/2016 at 10:32

http://thegarage.jalopnik.com/now-is-the-tim…

they've always been affordable. they were selling for 18,xxx for a base model 2 years ago:

Svend > MR2_FTW - Group J's resident Stig
08/23/2016 at 10:36

For the Fiesta ST it’s getting a little dragged out with trying to keep it alive.

Here in the U.K. there is now the ST-Line which are essentially Zetec S spec cars with ST styling.

So it’s now.

Zetec, Ł13,395

Zetec ECOnetic,

Zetec White Edition,

Zetec Blue Edition,

ST-Line, 1.0 EcoBoost 100, 125 and 140ps and 1.5 diesel

ST-Line Red Edition, 1.0 EcoBoost 140ps

ST-Line Black Edition, 1.0 EcoBoost 140ps

Titanium,

Titaniun ECOnetic,

Titanium X,

ST-1, 1.6T EcoBoost 182ps

ST-2, “

ST-3, “

and finally

ST200, Ł22,745, 1.6T EcoBoost 200ps

Nothing > blacktruck18
08/23/2016 at 10:42

I bought my ST1 2014 for $19,600, out the door, in May of 2014. If I remember, there was a choice between $3500, or 0% financing, and I took the cash. There was also some $1k competitive lease conquest deal, as well as a Sync rebate. Lots of cash on the hood, even 2 years ago.

PanchoVilleneuve ST > blacktruck18
08/23/2016 at 21:51

No.

blacktruck18 > PanchoVilleneuve ST
08/24/2016 at 08:56

But... what if they have?

SloWRX > blacktruck18
08/24/2016 at 09:00

I paid $24k for before ttl for my 2014 fully loaded, sticker was $30k

Under_Score > blacktruck18
08/24/2016 at 16:21

$6,000? Back when I was looking for Cherokees for mom, I saw them for $8,000+ off MSRP.

blacktruck18 > Under_Score
08/24/2016 at 17:21

Seeing huge discounts off new cars isn’t that much out of the ordinary, I got my Ram in 2013 for about $9,000 off MSRP, the FoST being that much off seemed weird. I would think that it being a more specialized car Ford would keep a tighter control on the number produced so they don’t have to take almost a 1/4 off the price to sell them.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > jariten1781
06/11/2018 at 23:48

Yeah, the ST1s are seriously undesirable and hard to sell. In fact, they’ve always been hard to sell. I have pointed this out many times when people point out that there are all these “cheap STs sitting on lots everywhere!”. ST1s are also unicorns, to the point that at meets everyone looks at them curiously if one shows up. It’s due to the average people that buy them, which are not at all like a normal Ford buyers. Ever since they realized this, Ford has been trying to figure out how to retain these customers that they had never drawn in before...

https://jalopnik.com/you-can-get-an-awesome-deal-on-a-ford-st-or-rs-right-no-1825650235

My response to that thread pretty much summed up why they’re for sale so cheap. These cars are not all equal - an ST1 sells for about $18-20k, an ST2 will sell for about $23-25k, and an ST3 will be $28-30k.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > blacktruck18
06/11/2018 at 23:53

It’s sad how far they discontented the ST1s. It’s also sad that they didn’t upgrade the interior much in the higher-trim STs so you can still tell they’re economy cars...

They really shouldn’t have made the ST1s at all. Their headline “starting at” price really didn’t matter to the people that bought them and if they started at 30k with more of the features they have in Europe, they would have still sold just as well.

Eric @ opposite-lock.com > blacktruck18
06/11/2018 at 23:55

They have always sold at fairly substantial discounts. I literally sent emails to all the dealers I’d consider buying from with the specs I wanted and asked them for the best price they’d give me. They all came back with substantial discounts off MSRP.