Ford Mustang gets price hike after 2016 sellout

Ford has blamed US currency pressure and "market demand" behind the $2500 price rise on its hero car that's sold out for a year.

Ford Mustang fans will need to pay more for their hero car in Australia -- and they only have themselves to blame.

The price of the new Mustang V8 has risen by $2500 after the first year's allocation -- 4000 cars -- sold out before arriving in showrooms or anyone had taken a test drive.

The Mustang range now starts from $45,990

Ford says it will honour the original price for anyone who placed an order for a new Mustang before the end of November.

But if you order a new Mustang today, you will not only pay up to $2500 more for it, you will also need to wait until 2017 before taking delivery.

The Mustang range now starts from $45,990 to $66,490 plus on-road costs, an increase of $1000 on the four-cylinder models and $2500 with the V8 versions.

Ford Australia CEO Graeme Whickman told News Corp Australia: "Nobody is getting gouged or anything like that, we've protected anyone who placed an order by the end of November."

When you reflect on 4000 orders, that's a pretty big order bank

Mr Whickman said strong customer demand and currency pressure contributed to the price rises.

"It's a mixture of all manner of business conditions, so yes there's currency (pressure) but at the same time we have to understand what the demand is. We have to make a return. We monitor (pricing) on all vehicles on a monthly basis. Demand and supply are always factors in pricing, that's the nature of pricing."

Mr Whickman added: "At the end of the day, when you reflect on 4000 orders, that's a pretty big order bank."

The Mustang is half the price it used to be in Australia in the early 2000s -- when a handful of cars were converted from left-hand-drive to right-hand-drive locally -- but local buyers still pay up to $20,000 more per vehicle than they do in the US, even once equipment changes have been taken into account.

"I think it represents pretty good value," said Mr Whickman. "It's still got to get here, it's got to go through a few hoops, it's got to get fumigated, it's got to through the Panama Canal, it's still got to get on a ship."

Mr Whickman said the fall of the Aussie dollar versus the US currency "is a bit of a challenge and the same we have to recoup costs".