Defending Ford's Production Shortages

[fossil]

Had Ford known the hybrid would be so popular it would not have been a base/entry level XL. Hell in most cars it's a premium level option. IMO Ford was worried the Mav would flop so they advertised the crap out of the hybrid hoping to break even.
For those that think Ford should have known, based on what? It's never been that popular an option for Ford.
A fool for not knowing a small truck would sell? I guess since Ford is the only one to take the small truck plunge, they are the smartest maker in America. It's all catch up now for the others.
Like they say, hind sight is 20/20.

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[SLINGSHOT]

Failure to plan, is planning to fail.

 

[TomD]

I think you need to look at this from Ford's perspective as well. When they designed this car they never anticipated the overwhelming popularity of this little truck. At the time of original design, gas prices were about half of what they are now, and they calculated demand for this truck based on those parameters. Because of cheap gas prices at that time, they calculated limited demand and assigned only a single factory to produce these. Ford was caught off guard by the sudden increase in gas prices, which threw a curve in their initial truck demand calculations. On top of that, throw in the Covid related economy slow-downs that hampered 3rd party parts suppliers. To Ford's credit, they refrained from significant price increases to lessen demand to shorter the wait times. They could have easily increased prices by $5,000-$8,000, to meet initial demand calculations, by actually lessening demand. So, the choice is clear, would you rather wait for your order, or pay $5,000-$8,000 more?

If they would have done a marketing focus pole they would have known what they were getting into.
I can’t remember which online forum I read this on however someone wrote that $5000 over sticker was the point of being upside down on your maverick after that you will never recover your investment.
Bronco Sports are stacking up on dealer lots because they are not selling. Why isn’t that production source producing Mavericks?
F-150’s are stacking up on dealer lots. I can’t believe some of the chips used in them are not compatible with the Maverick.
As one of my former bosses said “there is no excuse for not knowing”.

 

[Joe Mac]

My dealer told me if you want a Maverick order the Eco Boost. It will take between 6 to 9 months to get. Ordered on Sept 15,2022. Truck is being built on 6-21 -23.
It's a loaded Lariat Lux with 4k and towing package and 360 co pilot it was a code 19
Since Ford didn't build enough Hybrids in 2022 and now 2023 I have no faith in them building enough in 2024.
Just my 2 cents but if you want one get the Boost

 

[Tiger Dude]

Always so many experts in these type threads on how to run a billion dollar multi-natioanl corporation.

I submit they knew exactly how many of these they would sell, like the press they get on how cheap they are, and make all their money on $60k F-150's.

 

[JimParker256]

I'm pretty sure that four years ago, when Ford was planning for the Maverick intro, and planning for production, they (and probably every other rational manufacturer) gave out contracts for specific numbers of components as a "minimum" with plans to add additional orders if/when needed. With just-in-time manufacturing, those orders were spread out over the model year.

Then two things happened simultaneously:

1. The Maverick became a huge hit, with much higher demand than Ford's conservative estimates
2. The Covid pandemic disrupted supply chains and transportation across the globe.

Just one specific instance of #2 sheds a lot of light: When China basically shut down (along with Taiwan), the production of microchips simply halted. Vehicle sales came to a screeching halt, so manufacturers (Ford included) cancelled a bunch or orders. But strangely enough, Smart Phone, Tablet, and Computer sales skyrocketed as people began working more from home, and Zoom-work and Zoom-school became a "thing." So the folks like Apple who made those products actually increased their orders. When factories began coming back online, they had HUGE backlogs of orders from Apple, Samsung, HP, etc. to be fulfilled. For almost six months, 100% of the high-density fabrication plants were taken up with fulfilling those orders. Ford tried to reactivate their orders, but found they were competing with every single other vendor of pretty much anything with a computer chip in it. And since Smart Phones, Tablets, and Computers have MUCH higher markups (therefore - profitability) than autos, Ford's "lowball" contracts carried little weight with those electronics fabs... Ford had to wait in line, raise their offers, and wait in line some more. And that's just the story of "chips" as a small percentage of the suppliers that Ford had to deal with during and after the pandemic...

So now you've got the "perfect storm" for Ford: An unexpected hit with the hugely popular Maverick, being build in a plant alongside another surprise "hit" vehicle, with suppliers that have limited production capacity that are struggling to meet even the original (conservative) order levels Ford expected, and a transportation system that is flat-out broken trying to make "just-in-time" deliveries to keep the production lines going.

I'm not trying to apologize for Ford. They ABSOLUTELY did a HORRIBLE job in communicating with their customer base and in handling the ordering process in general. It is unforgivable to me that they could not properly "roll over" orders themselves from 2022 to 2023. It is unbelievable that they cannot do a better job of delivering on the promise they made in 2022 that orders would be handled in a FIFO (first in, first out) manner, instead of by "dealer allocations"... It's a complete failure on Ford's part that they allowed such massive customer dissatisfaction to occur, when it was at least 98% in their power to COMMUNICATE better with their customers, and provide some transparency. Don't tell me to find a dealership that has "allocations" without providing a way to obtain that information. A dealer who doesn't have them isn't going to admit it, and few of them have found it in their best interests to offer up that information.

Ironically, despite all this ridiculousness, the Maverick itself remains a desirable vehicle - to the point that TONS of us are STILL waiting in line to get ours... I just feel incredibly sorry for those who've been waiting for nearly two years for their ordered Mavericks...

 

[Scott Asheville]

FWIW, Ford CEO Farley told analysts last week that Ford flat out dramatically underestimated demand for the Maverick. Farley added they're doing what they can (like another shift at Hermosillo). But I betcha nobody inside Ford will be fired for the massive screwup, because they have the requisite CYA skills to keep their jobs (job #1 in a large corporation is CYA). In defense of Ford, most OEMs have not recognized latent demand for an inexpensive small truck for the last decade or so. For example, VW showed the Tarok prototype and said "nah, nobody wants that".

The competition must be loving Ford's missteps (including poor quality). The Santa Cruz will soon be joined by the Rampage. And you can bet any OEM with a suitable factory in North America (to avoid the "chicken tax") will soon be joining the small truck parade. I wager by 2027 we'll have five or six OEMs offering inexpensive small trucks, including several BEV choices. (we already know Kia has a small to midsize truck headed our way).

Bottom line - we the consumers win in the end. The more choices we have, the better for us.

 

[JokingJ]

And, if you end 23MY with 30k unbuilt hybrids, roll them over and come July just do NOT take new hybrid orders. Open up the hybrid orders bank later, if it looks like you'll catch up, but taking more orders with a 30k backlog is just insane.

What, and commit to building this year's truck at last year's price?! The bean counters would never let that slide, even if it's the "firm handshake" sort of right thing to do. Even less likely when you consider that Ford is prioritizing higher-margin XLT and Lariat orders over XLs (not to mention hybrids).

At some point, they'll screw over enough people and it will impact sales writ large, and maybe then it will start to make business sense to be more ethical and forward-thinking when it comes to transparency about orders/whether Ford can actually build what it sells. But right now the market is hot and all the C-suite execs have big fat dollar signs where their eyes should be like Scrooge McDuck when they look the order numbers.

 

[JokingJ]

I think you need to look at this from Ford's perspective as well. When they designed this car they never anticipated the overwhelming popularity of this little truck. At the time of original design, gas prices were about half of what they are now, and they calculated demand for this truck based on those parameters. Because of cheap gas prices at that time, they calculated limited demand and assigned only a single factory to produce these. Ford was caught off guard by the sudden increase in gas prices, which threw a curve in their initial truck demand calculations. On top of that, throw in the Covid related economy slow-downs that hampered 3rd party parts suppliers. To Ford's credit, they refrained from significant price increases to lessen demand to shorter the wait times. They could have easily increased prices by $5,000-$8,000, to meet initial demand calculations, by actually lessening demand. So, the choice is clear, would you rather wait for your order, or pay $5,000-$8,000 more?

I guess? Problem is they already had hindsight going into MY23 and more or less knew what the demand would be like (both for engine platform and trim level), but for some reason made essentially no adjustments (you know, aside from deciding to prioritize higher-margin trims like XLT over XL...).

The other thing is that Ford could do proactive things like set a conservative number of total anticipated builds, establish dealer allocations based on that number, and then have dealers submit orders through an online platform that actively deducts every order the submit from their allotment. And before you say "well, that sounds complicated," the existing order process is already asinine and complicated, and we're talking about a multi-billion dollar company here in 2023 (or well, it was September of 2022), so what I just described isn't wishful thinking.

What is wishful thinking is allowing dealers to place orders well past their allocations and hoping against hope that there would somehow be "extra" supply of a vehicle that was vastly oversold the year before. But the C-suite loves to salivate over would-be vehicle sales and the extra quarter percent they could eke out at next quarter's earning call because of it. And btw, the dealers are selling what few free-agent trucks there are for at least $5-8K+ over list, so now we have the worst of both worlds -- really great stuff, everyone's super excited!

So nah, I'm not biting. I get that there have been constraints, economic hurdles, etc., but you're trying to tell me that Ford essentially is/was a well-oiled machine that someone threw a wrench into, and that's why they/we are in this mess. That's utter nonsense. They're a big, bureaucratic automotive organization, just without the efficiency of the Germans or Japanese but with an extra helping of typical American corporate greed. The result is, well, this.

 

[Billkowski]

I got lucky in finding an abandoned order, but while I didn't order one, I've been searching in a 100 mile radius for about a year and half, had half a dozen close calls, they were either sold before I could act, or had mark ups I wouldn't pay(msrp is hard enough to swallow as it is). It surprises me there as many abandoned orders as there are out there. Opportunity to buy one exists out there but you have to be really flexible in what you want, do regular inventory searches and be willing to make a quick decision. Obviously not an ideal environment for most.

 

[aitch-2-oh]

Buried in this thread is a statement that “Ford advertised the heck crap out of the Hybrid to avoid a flop”.

2+ years later, I’m still waiting to see the 1st Maverick ad in any format.

Quite the success story, over capacity sales without any advertising. It’s really a magic trick, conjuring from thin air…

 

[JimParker256]

Buried in this thread is a statement that “Ford advertised the heck out of the Hybrid to avoid a flop”.

2+ years later, I’m still waiting to see the 1st Maverick ad in any format.

Quite the success story, over capacity sales without any advertising. It’s really a magic trick, conjuring from thin air…

Interesting statement about "advertising the heck out of the Hybrid..." I'm extremely interested in the Maverick, and like you, I've never ONCE seen a Maverick advertised in ANY media form. Shows just how much pent-up demand there really is for a small (but still usefully sized) pickup with decent fuel mileage. And let's be clear - both Eco and Hybrid models kick ass in the MPG department!

 

[classicmet]

I think you need to look at this from Ford's perspective as well. When they designed this car they never anticipated the overwhelming popularity of this little truck. At the time of original design, gas prices were about half of what they are now, and they calculated demand for this truck based on those parameters. Because of cheap gas prices at that time, they calculated limited demand and assigned only a single factory to produce these. Ford was caught off guard by the sudden increase in gas prices, which threw a curve in their initial truck demand calculations. On top of that, throw in the Covid related economy slow-downs that hampered 3rd party parts suppliers. To Ford's credit, they refrained from significant price increases to lessen demand to shorter the wait times. They could have easily increased prices by $5,000-$8,000, to meet initial demand calculations, by actually lessening demand. So, the choice is clear, would you rather wait for your order, or pay $5,000-$8,000 more?

My issue, which I consider a dealer issue probably as much as Ford is a lack of communication. Pretty much anything I put money on such as construction or remodeling, if after 7 months I still had no idea when and if I would receive what I bought I would be wondering if I was going to need to shop elsewhere. Pretty simple really.

 

[TheSEARCH]

Didn't read all the threads so if this was said sorry,. While Ford falling short on production is not really there fault completely. BUT there handling of ORDERS is 1000 percent on them. This BS allocation then allowing 30K to many orders to be placed. Then not telling./restricting a dealer from ordering over their allocation amount is 1000 percent FORD.

 

[Chicolini]

No they are not smarter than that......

I think 'da Covid kilt all the smart ones.

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