30% of ST owners make over $100k?

[XuperXero]

Glad to see news like this:

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/06/03/performance-cars-driving-sales-gains/

But this line caught my attention though: For example, 30 percent of customers for Ford's ST models have a household income over $100,000

Not sure how to respond to that. But that proves Ford really created a good product to intrigue that category. Once I get into the $100k category, I'm still keeping the Fiesta ST

 

[Natedogg]

A car doesn't need to be expensive to be fun and worth owning. Besides that, insurance is a big factor when owning more expensive cars. I also don't need to own status symbols that break constantly. My Explorer was expensive enough for me.

Then you add 4 kids and all the things that go in to the house every year (and I own a small house), the money disappears quickly. I would rather live comfortably on my money than be stretched thin all the time because I need status symbols.

 

[dyn085]

A lot of the early ST adopters purchased the FoST as a third vehicle, a toy of sorts. Due to the entry-cost (back during markup days), most people didn't want to toss that kind of money on a daily-driver when you can either buy something substantially cheaper or better optioned. The majority of the overall population fall on either sides of that line. A surprisingly large amount of ST owners also, through my observation, just wanted a sporty daily because their 'fast' car was a significantly more 'worthy' car that they just didn't want to put miles on every single day at the expense of single-digit or low-teens in fuel economy. The FoST was a happy medium of performance and overall cost.

Now that the price-points of final sales have come down on the FoST I'm sure a larger percentage of lower earners have jumped into that bandwagon, but the overall community is still populated by many very, very 'smart' individuals-clearly people with degrees and/or larger amounts of life experience-it's very evident in online interactions. While that isn't exactly a prime deciding factor on how much an individual earns, you can draw lots of lines of similarity and make general assumptions. When I first read a Ford statement a couple of years ago citing basically the same information of household worth I initially viewed it as subtle marketing hype to draw in higher earners, but after spending time in the community I began to think and agree that it's possibly true. Most of the early BT adopters didn't care about their warranty or having their car down for any extended period of time because they had other cars to fall-back on and if they blew their motor they could just buy a new one.

But in all fairness, a really smart and highly schooled member can work at the local Wal Mart just as easily as someone with less schooling/book knowledge can rise to a decent income in a blue-collar position.

 

[lonelysuperstar]

Not this ST owner!

 

[MyGoKart]

Cheap fun commuter. Makes Sense to me.

 

[wspec]

This one is a hard one for people to talk about without sounding like bragging. But I will just say it this way for me, I would love to have a new GT3 RS and paying for one is not an issue, but I need a 4 door for my kids and and ultimately I love to build stuff and so I need a tuner car and you don't tear apart something like a GT3.

So for me its not about the money as it is the practicality, I need a fun, capable (and still small) 4 door car that I am not afraid to blow it apart on my garage floor to try to build it up better with my own personal touch.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Remember the report states Household income. Meaning yourself and your spouse. So sure it sounds like 100k a person but really it could be 50k each. And I also agree most are probably buying as a second vehicle or third.

 

[BeansNCornbread]

Between my wife and me we are around 200K and the Fist is my primary. She is considering a Fost or a Fist too. From our perspective it?s a super fun car on the cheap that if we crack up against a track wall or otherwise mess up in road shenanigans it's not hard to recover from financially. These are a lot of car for the money even without the performance factor though I am struggling with learning to appreciate the FWD part of it having driven RWD most my life including through CO and Midwest winters.

 

[boombots]

Good point on spouse. I certainty don't make that cash being a 2nd year teacher in the state 49th for teacher pay. The car just fit my needs for a sporty, practical, efficient d.d. Something I can mod but still haul people and stuff. Granted I bought used and probably not figured into the stats here.

 

[SPhilli911]

I don't make a whole lot of money, and I am still in college. The ST was the cheapest car I could afford (new) that was still fun to drive, simple as that. I'm a car nut, I couldn't settle for a non-performance car, the Ford fit my needs perfectly.

 

[Phreak]

Sounds about right. I was actually going to buy a Lotus Evora

 

[D1JL]

I guess I am in the bottom 1%.




Dave

 

[Joker328]

Yeah, not terribly surprising when you consider that is household income. The FiST is also probably not the kind of car that appeals to median income families of 4-5 people. It's not super practical and the side-impact safety rating for the rear seat is not good. So I'm guessing the main buyers tend to be young people without kids (e.g., me) or better-off folks who get it as a second/third car for the household.

The statistic I found even more astounding (if I am reading it correctly) is that "Millennials buy [ST models] twice as much as other products from the brand." That is nuts. The idea that any demographic buys two performance trims twice as much as ALL OTHER MODELS that Ford makes is unbelievable. I mean, I am a Millennial and probably wouldn't buy any other Ford products, but I'm still surprised they don't sell more standard Focuses to Millennials than all the ST's combined. That demand has to be coming from overseas because I hardly see them around me and DC is overrun with both Millennials and cars.

 

[bobjob]

I remeber the first year there were stats like 30% of ST buyers were in California too so higher cost of living and possibly higher pay can affect household income numbers.

 

[BeansNCornbread]

Keep in mind the median household income in the U.S. for 2013 was 51K. So the stat does have relevance as to the desirability of the models especially when factoring deviations.

 

[bobjob]

I think another early study of the ST buyers showed a majority of them were over 30 years, which would typically be in the money/carreer making age range.

 

[D1JL]

I live in Southern California.
I see the high cost of living.
I am still waiting to see the higher income.
And our household income was way less than that number listed above.



Dave

 

[stuntdoogie]

Im 40k short...

 

[jariten]

Our household income is ~160k. Wife and I share the FiST and a GTI and have owned an NA Miata for around a decade. We like fun cars and we hate spending money so this works out well. There's also 2 FoSTs in my secondary office's parking lot so they are most likely in the same income bracket. See lots of college kids/recent grads in them on the street. Anecdotally seems in line with my observations I suppose.

 

[Phreak]

I live in Southern California.
I see the high cost of living.
I am still waiting to see the higher income.
And our household income was way less than that number listed above.

Dave

Don't worry Dave, it is a race-car thing, haha