Australian Buyers Say Ford Mustang Mach 1 Not as Advertised

Buyers in Australia are less than happy with their Ford Mustangs, says a new report, as the Mach 1 track-ready car is arriving down under with fewer features than advertised. The missing bits range from insignificant items like branded floormats to critical differences in the vehicle’s performance.

700 Ford Mustang Mach 1 coupes were designated for Australia, including right-hand drive. Motoring Australia reported on and spoke with one of the customers who learned that what was originally announced and presented in a brochure last October isn’t what they’ll pick up from their dealer.

“We recently discovered some content and feature corrections on the Mustang Mach 1 for the Australian market, and are disappointed we didn’t catch this before the first run of brochures and website was published,” the automaker said in a statement, according to the report. “We are especially disappointed that our loyal and engaged Ford customers and Mach 1 owners feel let down.”

What are the differences? Adaptive cruise control and rear parking sensors are missing, the car won’t have floor mats wearing a Mach 1 logo, and, more critically, the cars will be missing the expected rear differential cooler.

Ford of Australia calls it a brochure error and said that adaptive cruise and parking sensors were not available because of the unique cooling and downforce-creating parts of the Mach 1, the same reason given for the missing fog lights. The automaker said it was “working through how we are able to best support our Mach 1 owners” and that it would reach out to them soon.

Shane Smedley, who had an order placed for one of the cars, told Motoring that “The issue is that people have made decisions as to the value of the product based upon the assertions made in both the brochure AND other advertising, dealer assertions etc. These are not small errors. These are significant and impact the value proposition, particularly the differential.”