The production of the iconic pony car Ford Mustang in its Michigan factory will be temporarily stopped after sales dropped 32 percent from the previous month.
The Flat Rock factory, located in south Detroit, is the only plant in the world that produces the popular sports car for the Ford Motor Company. The plant will halt its operation for one week due to the low sales turnout in September. According to company spokesperson Kelli Felker, the one-week respite will allow the production to match the demand.
The low sales output comes as a surprise as the latest version of the Mustang was only recently released. Also, news that the Ford Mustang will appear in the movie Transformers: The Last Knight was expected to spike interest in the muscle car.
Ford is not the only automaker to see a huge drop in their sales. Jeep also reported that they suffered a decline in their overall sales in September. On the other hand, the Chevrolet Camaro finally overtook the Mustang in terms of sales to regain the title of the top-selling sports car for September 2016. This marks the first time the Camaro sold more units than the Mustang since October 2014 after the latter was redesigned to celebrate its 50th anniversary. However, Chevrolet also saw a decline in their year to date sales even if their September sales improved.
Automakers are having a hard time duplicating their previous year's sales across the board. Some believe this is a sign that the auto market in the USA is weakening despite its status as one of the leading players in the country's economic growth.
The Flat Rock plant has 3,702 employees working on Ford Mustangs and Lincoln Continentals. The workers will continue to be compensated during the break. Operations will resume on Oct. 17.
