Reports from a salesperson (low order numbers for 2024 Maverick)

[ShadowBlack XL440]

All I know is whenever I look at my 23 XLT hybrid I have no desire to replace the antenna with a stubby one.

Because she’s a unicorn .

close to 22 prices, no recalls, before 24 price hikes. I feel lucky every time I look at it!

I am hoping to get a 2024 Hybrid at the 2023 price with consideration of the pending private offer.

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[JakRussll]

There are many reasons for this but I wonder how much buyer fatigue has to do with it? Buying a car shouldn’t involve this much drama.

****Could not have said it better. I am just about "Mavericked Out". Love my '22 XLT Hybrid but there are options I wish I had included, so I ordered a '23 with everything I want- intending to move out of my '22 when it arrives. That '23 is now rolled over to a 2024. Waited a year the first time, 10 months the 2nd time (only to reorder) and who knows how long now. "Fatigue" is being kind.

 

[Old Man]

Seems the 24’ Mav order banks snuck up on a lot of dealers and buyers. One week before order banks were gonna open my sales guy wasn’t aware or sure of any of the details. I basically had to educate him on it. One week ago on Friday he said they were going to start contacting customers to see who still wanted to order. I think cause I brought it to their attention. Customers hadn’t been pro active as I was obviously cause the majority of those would have already reached out to the dealer asking about 24’ order. I suspect I was the only one that had reached out about re-order this time last week.

I personally don‘t think the original price point was undervalued and Ford was still making a decent profit. If selling at msrp alone, once you factor in the holdback, dealers are making $2500-$3400 at profit per unit at least so Ford is logically making more than that per unit. The quality of materials currently used on them are garbage along with many other Ford products. I know this and I can say this cause most vehicles I’ve purchased the last 22 years have been Fords. One would think quality of materials would improve over time but my current 2013 Ford Focus has more durable plastics than my previous 14’ Mustang, 18’ Raptor, 21’ Bronco Sport, 22’ Mach E and now my 23’ Bronco.

I know some will ask “why buy ford then?” I’ve also purchased vehicles from other brands so it’s given me a comparison but I’m actually not extra picky cause I don’t hold onto vehicles for more than a few short years. The 13’ Focus hatchback I bought used as a salvaged title just 18 months ago cause I needed something cheap from one day to the next that would carry a lot of stuff for work. Work alone will trash my daily and if I get a Mav to replace my Focus it’s just gonna get trashed. My other option is the all new 24’ Chevy Trax but I’m building points on my credit card which I can use to take off the sells price. Got 2k off using those points on a custom ordered CT5 in Jan.

All that heat in Texas has fried your brain if you think dealers are making that kind of money.

 

[colinl]

****Could not have said it better. I am just about "Mavericked Out". Love my '22 XLT Hybrid but there are options I wish I had included, so I ordered a '23 with everything I want- intending to move out of my '22 when it arrives. That '23 is now rolled over to a 2024. Waited a year the first time, 10 months the 2nd time (only to reorder) and who knows how long now. "Fatigue" is being kind.

It is ridiculous and buyer fatigue is a thing.

But what is your next best option? What are you going to do if you don't get a new Maverick order? For many, it's buying a new or used one in inventory somewhere. It's a lot of work, and others are doing it, and many eventually pay some markup, and every once in a while someone has a story about buying a new Maverick from inventory at some dealership selling it at msrp.

The maverick popularity, cost increases, production capacity, supply chain constraints, are unusual and in many ways Ford has never had to deal with this kind of issue before. There are other several vehicles with very long wait times, markup in secondary market and perceived or actual differentiation from competitors. (C8 corvette, easy example.)

What are those people doing? They are either waiting or canceling, same as a Maverick order because that's all you can do. There is a unique niche right now for the Maverick and if you want/need that niche then you don't have a compelling alternative vehicle to get instead.

 

[Robert C]

I'm still confused by the allocations...Do the 23 rollovers count towards the 24 allocations or not? My small town dealer has 17 rollovers. They only received 5 mavericks in 2023 so I would assume that's how many allocations they will have for 2024. I guess I'm screwed if that's the case.

No you are the only one on here not confused by the allocations. Or at least think they know about them.
Allocations if they exist at all are between Ford and the Dealer. Neither is going to tell you anything.

 

[Scott Asheville]

I think this is one of those threads where everyone gets to project what they wish reality was onto what reality really is. The problem with Maverick ordering - none of us really knows what the reality is. It's like the three blind men describing an elephant by touching the ear, nose and tail.

 

[tomfrommi]

My dealer is currently at 72 2024 orders

 

[colinl]

I think this is one of those threads where everyone gets to project what they wish reality was onto what reality really is. The problem with Maverick ordering - none of us really knows what the reality is. It's like the three blind men describing an elephant by touching the ear, nose and tail.

Wish in one hand and in the other, then see which one fills first.

People are rightly complaining that Ford keeps changing the rules, and that nothing is clear. That's right because this is all unique and Ford has to make it up as they go along, as best they possibly can. We can all sit here and criticize what Ford is doing, and maybe some of that is right, but a lot of the criticism is because we don't know everything Ford knows. We're frustrated and we can't help but think about this big issue in the smallest, most personal way. What am I going to do?

For decades Ford dealers have ordered like this and retail orders, to my knowledge, never got rolled over and rarely got balanced out. Late in 2022 some hybrids were scheduled with a VIN and balanced out, I'm pretty sure that has never happened. (A VIN always got built.) And dealers always have been able to order stock based on their local market demand.

 

[Robert C]

Wish in one hand and in the other, then see which one fills first.

People are rightly complaining that Ford keeps changing the rules, and that nothing is clear. That's right because this is all unique and Ford has to make it up as they go along, as best they possibly can. We can all sit here and criticize what Ford is doing, and maybe some of that is right, but a lot of the criticism is because we don't know everything Ford knows. We're frustrated and we can't help but think about this big issue in the smallest, most personal way. What am I going to do?

For decades Ford dealers have ordered like this and retail orders, to my knowledge, never got rolled over and rarely got balanced out. Late in 2022 some hybrids were scheduled with a VIN and balanced out, I'm pretty sure that has never happened. (A VIN always got built.) And dealers always have been able to order stock based on their local market demand.

So the complaint is Ford has been making cars for 120 years, why can't they do this?
But the problem is that Ford has been making cars for 120 years, they can't do this.

 

[Hdscreens]

Maybe a little fried for sure. I always thought $2000-$2500 was the minimum holdback from under the true wholesale cost with other vehicles having a bigger holdback. Granger was doing 3k under msrp the first round if I recall. Even though they admitted it wasn’t feasible it’s possible they still made a tiny little bit. My guess only $400 return per unit but with the amount of effort and time it took I’m sure that‘s losing at that point. Got my Bronco thru them at $8500 under msrp after price protections but I’d guess that only brought in 1k profit for them.

You would be surprised to hear how much Ford sells vehicles to police or government fleets.

All that heat in Texas has fried your brain if you think dealers are making that kind of money.

 

[MatthewPK]

Maybe a little fried for sure. I always thought $2000-$2500 was the minimum holdback from under the true wholesale cost with other vehicles having a bigger holdback. Granger was doing 3k under msrp the first round if I recall. Even though they admitted it wasn’t feasible it’s possible they still made a tiny little bit. My guess only $400 return per unit but with the amount of effort and time it took I’m sure that‘s losing at that point. Got my Bronco thru them at $8500 under msrp after price protections but I’d guess that only brought in 1k profit for them.

You would be surprised to hear how much Ford sells vehicles to police or government fleets.

Dealerships also get benefits at volume levels so sometimes it can be advantageous for a dealer to sell at a wash.

Not relevant to mavericks but sometimes you can get a dealer to go well below invoice to clear an old model from the lot.

 

[Connect]

It is ridiculous and buyer fatigue is a thing.

But what is your next best option? What are you going to do if you don't get a new Maverick order? For many, it's buying a new or used one in inventory somewhere. It's a lot of work, and others are doing it, and many eventually pay some markup, and every once in a while someone has a story about buying a new Maverick from inventory at some dealership selling it at msrp.

The maverick popularity, cost increases, production capacity, supply chain constraints, are unusual and in many ways Ford has never had to deal with this kind of issue before. There are other several vehicles with very long wait times, markup in secondary market and perceived or actual differentiation from competitors. (C8 corvette, easy example.)

What are those people doing? They are either waiting or canceling, same as a Maverick order because that's all you can do. There is a unique niche right now for the Maverick and if you want/need that niche then you don't have a compelling alternative vehicle to get instead.

Exactly, people are going to move on to their next best choice. In the meantime it sours people on Ford because of how most dealers are handeling it.

A coworker just sold his car last week and thought it would be an easy thing to get a Honda Civic. Had it down to 2 color choices, and 2 trims he would be happy with. Suprisingly they were hard to find on the lot and 3 different times in a week when he found them a dealer sold or in one case did a dealer trade when they knew he was on his way. He could have probably stopped it all by putting a deposit down but didn't know it was going to be that big a deal at the time. He found one 3hrs away put a deposit down and went up there only to find a big scratch on the car during inspection. They offered to let him out of the deal but he just had them fix it. In any case he was ready to walk away from Honda and go to another make after a weeks worth of craziness.

It's not like it use to be buying cars, and while we may have to learn to be patient in getting what we want but waiting 10-18 months for a car is not always in the cards for everyone.

Another one that suprised me this past weekend was a friend in the Houston area went to buy a Hyundia Elantra Saturday morning and the dealer had 7 in stock for the trim/options/colors he wanted. Didn't think much of it and went in around 3:00. There was only 1 left when he got there. WOW

 

[jpdurr]

I still don't think there is much competition to the Maverick if you want a small truck. Maybe Santa Cruz but people don't seem to like them as much. Small hybrid truck? There is no competition rn.

Well 36,500 people liked the Santa Cruz enough to buy it in 2022. There will be competition in both the BEV and the Hybrid space soon. Hopefully there will be a Plug-In Hybrid option as well.

 

[jpdurr]

I'm still confused by the allocations...Do the 23 rollovers count towards the 24 allocations or not? My small town dealer has 17 rollovers. They only received 5 mavericks in 2023 so I would assume that's how many allocations they will have for 2024. I guess I'm screwed if that's the case.

Or, drive over to "Capital City" and place your order.........

 

[The One]

Ford doesn't want to sell Mavericks I think that pretty obvious not enough profit in them. Ford wants everybody to a 60K or higher F150 Ford makes lots of profit on the F150. Farley has also said Ford can be profitable selling a lower number of vehicles. I think that is a very reckless ideal lets see how long it'll take Ford to dump Farley when the recession takes firm hold on the economy and no one is buy 60K plus F150's.

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