When Drew Conner ordered his 2007 Roush BlackJack Mustang, #002 out of the factory, he was under the impression that he would pay $59,000 to own one of 100 of the special edition builds. Then Roush announced in 2008 that they would build 100 additional BlackJacks.
Now Conner is taking Roush Performance and Ford Motor Company to court in a class action lawsuit for a move that he says devalued his special edition Mustang. The argument of the plaintiff—a small army of at least 100 angry BlackJack owners led by Conner—holds that Roush’s late decision to increase production of the 2007 BlackJacks made them less rare and less unique, thus making the vehicles worth less than the owners originally paid.
What do they want? A class-action trial, a jury and $12 million from the aftermarket giant.
It was only a matter of time before someone spoke out against the copious number of special edition releases from the company—the forum community has been speaking out about it for years. The new releases may keep the company relevant in the media spotlight, but 60k isn’t a drop in the bucket for most consumers who want to preserve the top-dollar exclusivity of their pony cars.
But then, Conner’s argument may be up for interpretation. Roush’s press release in early 2007 regarding the release of the BlackJack read:
“This is the prototype for a limited run of 100 BlackJack Mustangs to be done by ROUSH Performance in 2007, and it is the most powerful Mustang ever made by the legendary tuning company.”
The statement never explicitly states that the BlackJack nameplate will only be used for the ’07 run—in fact, the use of the term “prototype” implies there will be more to come.
Whatever happens, the case will be an interesting one for an industry that takes its branding issues very seriously. StangPlanet will keep you updated as more information becomes available.
So what do you think? Who’s at fault here?
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