Sometimes it pays to be picky with who your customers are, especially when it comes to your limited-build exclusives. That was the game Ford played with its second-generation Ford GT supercar. A move that many considered a touch ballsy for the American carmaker.
But surprise, surprise, according to a recent Chasing Cars survey, Ford’s supercar surprise comes out on top as the most popular supercar on Instagram. And by a significant margin over its runner ups, the McLaren P1 and Bugatti Chiron.
How did the Ford GT become social media’s top supercar?
Of course, if you delve into the methodology behind the survey, you can see how the GT clinched the title. The key data point used in this survey is the humble hashtag. According to Chasing Cars, the survey only tallied hashtags with a location tag.
Looking at the recorded locations, it is not surprising that North American cities like San Francisco, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Vancouver, and Miami feature in the top ten cities.
The survey identifies Miami as “the most supercar-obsessed city”, with 1514 posts per 1000 motorists. However, the city of cash, coke, and cyclones, have nothing on Monaco, which registered 3048 posts per 1000 motorists.
Based on the locality of where these hashtags come from, one can draw a correlation to its home base support and recognition. Nevertheless, as far as surveys go, there is no better way to tally a car’s social media presence. To that end, the higher-ups in Ford must be feeling smug about themselves besting the likes of Ferrari in the online pageant contest.
Only for the worthy
At its launch in 2015, Ford announced that it had plans on making 500 road-going versions of their new Ford GT Le Mans car. However, unlike its predecessor, Ford made sure that only the worthy were able to get their hands on one.
Being picky about your customers is nothing new. After all, Ferrari mastered it down to an art form. But Ford. The makers of the blue-collar F-150 pick-up and Transit van. Why do they get to decide who gets to buy their reborn supercar? The absolute gall.
Not only that, but Ford’s meticulous selection criteria was unheard of. Owners were obliged to attend as many Ford-related events and bound contractually to keep their car for 24 months. On top of that, Ford preferred that the customer came with a sizeable social media following.
Of course, all this was to stop flippers from making a quick buck off the GT. As well as garner as much publicity as possible. But would such demanding requirements turn off prospective customers?
Well, that attitude didn’t dissuade 6500 people from signing up for a shot at bagging just one of the 500 examples Ford originally planned to build. Its popularity was so great that Ford expanded production to another 500 a year later. And again in 2018, with another 350 examples.
With production only expected to wrap up next year, it seems unlikely that the popularity of the Ford GT will die down anytime soon.