Chip Constraints: Hypothesis vs. Reality

[Aparadox]

With the overwhelming voice of chip storage and constraints all over the forum, I think I am getting more and more confused about what is indeed going on. Last weekend I went to my dealership and saw a few customer ordered hybrids arriving, 4 out of 5 of them being either Lariat with lux or First Edition, which is hypothetically the most constrained build. There is only one XL and one XLT. This makes me wonder if any of the constraints are taking effect at this moment. My immediate sense is that Ford is prioritizing the most profitable model and trying to roll them out first.
Yes I know some of these models are built back in January where the chip shortage have not yet been announced and my local sampling could be indeed biased. But then I read the scheduling email post these weeks and most of the emails come to the reservations with lariat/lux configuration or FE. If these vehicles are being scheduled, why would not the others with less chip requirements? My insights into this being with the currently available chips, they would rather favor all of them on one Lariat/lux, instead of two base XLTs.
At this point I believe we should all calm down and think about what we need. If we are not willing to compromise, then don't knock any of your packages off your build sheet. After all who knows what the real story looks like....

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[cannon]

Logic doesn't apply when trying to figure out why Ford does what Ford does. I have 9 years of bashing my head against a wall trying to make sense of the decisions they make. The chip shortage has been going on for over a year, if Ford's left hand knew what the right was doing then I could see them prioritizing vehicles with more profit. But what I've seen here and showing up on our lot says that they aren't.

 

[Churaumi]

With the overwhelming voice of chip storage and constraints all over the forum, I think I am getting more and more confused about what is indeed going on. Last weekend I went to my dealership and saw a few customer ordered hybrids arriving, 4 out of 5 of them being either Lariat with lux or First Edition, which is hypothetically the most constrained build. There is only one XL and one XLT. This makes me wonder if any of the constraints are taking effect at this moment. My immediate sense is that Ford is prioritizing the most profitable model and trying to roll them out first.
Yes I know some of these models are built back in January where the chip shortage have not yet been announced and my local sampling could be indeed biased. But then I read the scheduling email post these weeks and most of the emails come to the reservations with lariat/lux configuration or FE. If these vehicles are being scheduled, why would not the others with less chip requirements? My insights into this being with the currently available chips, they would rather favor all of them on one Lariat/lux, instead of two base XLTs.
At this point I believe we should all calm down and think about what we need. If we are not willing to compromise, then don't knock any of your packages off your build sheet. After all who knows what the real story looks like....

Ford seems to be pushing out trucks from the line and parking them at the factory until they get chips in. Buyers still get the build email with the normal estimates of time on it, and then continue getting emails that their completion dates are shifting. Ford seems to get chips in fits and starts, but no constant supply. They made a deal with a chipmaker to improve things, but if the current situation is "improved" I'd hate to see what unimproved looks like. Trucks are moving, but not like they would have in 2019. You got lucky to see that many in person, that's several times more in one go than my dealership has received through this whole thing.

 

[DryHeat]

But then I read the scheduling email post these weeks and most of the emails come to the reservations with lariat/lux configuration or FE. If these vehicles are being scheduled, why would not the others with less chip requirements? My insights into this being with the currently available chips, they would rather favor all of them on one Lariat/lux, instead of two base XLTs.

First off... I don't know for sure and I'm not sure anyone does.

But not all chips are the same. It's not that this trim line needs 4 chips and that trim line needs 6 chips. There are different specific chips (or modules) that perform different functions.

A while back @fordvideoguy said he was told that the chip they were short of was one that is used in all the trim lines and engine combinations. So every truck needed one of those chips and there were not enough available.

I don't know if he had the correct information, but it would explain a lot. That would mean that if Ford gets 1000 of those chips to Hermosillo it can build 1000 Mavericks -- of any description.

It does seem like they have recently been favoring the more expensive trucks. But their choice is probably between building one Lariat or one XLT, not between building one Lariat or two XLTs.

 

[Old Ranchero]

Ford seems to be pushing out trucks from the line and parking them at the factory until they get chips in. Buyers still get the build email with the normal estimates of time on it, and then continue getting emails that their completion dates are shifting. Ford seems to get chips in fits and starts, but no constant supply. They made a deal with a chipmaker to improve things, but if the current situation is "improved" I'd hate to see what unimproved looks like. Trucks are moving, but not like they would have in 2019. You got lucky to see that many in person, that's several times more in one go than my dealership has received through this whole thing.

my impression upon reading about that deal they made was to build a new factory/foundry with a US based manufacturer partner- not that this company has lots of current unused capacity and all Ford had to do was send over the files and the new company would immediately start building and supplying to Ford. It would not in any way alleviate the current shortages but more looking to the future to keep this from happening again using supply chain originating overseas. I could be mis-remembering or thinking of a different article...

 

[Tbolt]

Mine was built over a month ago and sits waiting on a chip before it can be released. Being told April-May window now. This is kind of a joke.

 

[Aparadox]

Looking at the vast order being scheduled today, most being lariat/lux even if these come after many early orders.

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