I've seen a number of posts on FB of what looks like fleet orders on lots, so my guess is that's what has happened.
Well, that's stupid unless Ford has some fleet contract they have to abide by which would trump their retail plans. Ford already doesn't have enough capacity to build the orders they have and fleet contracts tend to be for less than what retail will pay. I just don't understand why they would want to waste capacity on lower-profit fleet orders when the more profitable retail orders are filled beyond what they can build.
Mine's been stripped for awhile now, still nothing. I've just resigned myself to drinking every Thursday afternoon. And I don't really drink, so it's Gatorade, but STILL!!
Here's one from a couple weeks ago. Definitely looks like fleet to me. Hopefully they are Ecoboost at least.
More than just legal contracts, the money making in fleet orders is the quantity. A retail order might only get 1-2 vehicles for a few years, but a business buys in bulk and offer repeat business.
Actually Ford is likely making the same amount on a Fleet XL ( could this be why they constrained XL retail orders?) as they would a retail XL. While fleet sales can get direct non retail incentives I am thinking that isn't happening on the Maverick fleet orders. That we agree to build and ship them in a certain time frame is likely the "deal" a Fleet buyer is getting. Dealers often make less on Fleet deals, but volume and ease of handling each deal is what makes it worthwhile. I still have contacts in true fleet sales, they are still pretty much at retail price on fleet sales.
Yes, there will be a number where that tips the balance. However, if the line has been bogged down for hours on a large fleet order, that's still a poor move when there are multiple high end customer orders that could have been built during the same time period. At the end of the day, it gets down to $ per hour of operation, rather than $ per vehicle.
This is what my optimistic self say, but my pessimistic self - often correct in terms of ford being incompetent - say this is most likely going to be the last time we see any major hybrid orders scheduled..
Ah, well, if you can't figure out why your XL hasn't been scheduled, here you go...Here's one from a couple weeks ago. Definitely looks like fleet to me. Hopefully they are Ecoboost at least.
