Do keep in mind the extreme complexity of the supply chain. While the industry's move to a just-in-time system brought tremendous efficiencies when everything was running optimally, the pandemic-related shutdowns created a domino effect that still seems to be sending ripples through the supply chain. JIT is like a fine-tuned machine - when it's working as planned. What took a relatively short amount of time to undo will take much longer to undo. The same phenomenon can be seen with a cold start of the electricity grid - let's hope that never happens. Reality is that a lot of things we rely on every day, we take for granted just how fragile these systems are, and what it takes to rebuild them.
To build one car, thousands of different components coming from myriad suppliers located all over the globe need to come together at the factory not long before they're needed. There are different configurations to build which only adds to the complexity - they need just the right parts to be able to build the cars that are scheduled to roll down the line.
The problem is that for any given week, there are going to be suppliers who are not able to supply the volume that was anticipated, which throws the whole system out of alignment.
Ford wants nothing more than to sell as many full-priced vehicles as they can possibly build. The whole industry is really efficient at doing so. It'll just take them some time to bring everything back under control.
Lest we forget, until recently, China has still used periodic lockdowns that have restricted factory production, which inevitably leads to shortages for the automotive industry.
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