How did Ford screw this up?

[Vince30]

I think pricing reflects demand more than ease of build. I think it's as simple as the market researchers got it way wrong. How many times have you heard "Americans have no desire for a small fuel efficient unibody car with a small open bed, they want full size trucks that do manly things like pull trees out of the ground"? They got how much demand there was for it wrong, and they got which drivetrain will be more popular wrong.

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[Last Truck Ever]

I think pricing reflects demand more than ease of build. I think it's as simple as the market researchers got it way wrong. How many times have you heard "Americans have no desire for a small fuel efficient unibody car with a small open bed, they want full size trucks that do manly things like pull trees out of the ground"? They got how much demand there was for it wrong, and they got which drivetrain will be more popular wrong.

Yeah, with gas prices going nothing but up, who could have possibly forseen a hybrid being in demand? SMH.

 

[APD]

I thought for '23 they switched the "base" Maverick to the Ecoboost, thus the higher "Private offer" for Hybrid orders that were moved from 22's to 23's? The '23 order guides show the Ecoboost as the "base" engine.

 

[Darnon]

I think pricing reflects demand more than ease of build. I think it's as simple as the market researchers got it way wrong. How many times have you heard "Americans have no desire for a small fuel efficient unibody car with a small open bed, they want full size trucks that do manly things like pull trees out of the ground"? They got how much demand there was for it wrong, and they got which drivetrain will be more popular wrong.

The 'didn't anticipate demand' argument doesn't hold water. There was no realignment of production capacity to address it (40% was pretty consistent throughout) and, if anything, '23 hybrid capacity decreased when by then it was clearly obvious the overwhelming presence of demand.

 

[APD]

Yeah, with gas prices going nothing but up, who could have possibly forseen a hybrid being in demand? SMH.

...and the ever-increasing emissions/mpg standards

 

[Shakesbear]

OK. So there is no difference in price between the hybrid and ecoboost engines for '23.

 

[TyPope]

Not sure what you mean as there are plenty of ford passenger cars available. I know that they consider the F150 to be flagship, and that has been their focus over the years, but they have not eliminated passengers cars.
Order mix = what people want
Demographic sales figures = what people can actually buy (cant buy a vehicle that isnt produced)

Ford sells the Mustang and the GT in the US according to their website... Those are the only two cars they sell and I'd argue that they don't really sell the Ford GT really.

They DO sell CUVs, SUVs, and Trucks but nothing for someone wanting a car that isn't a (price unlisted) supercar or Mustang.

 

[projectvortex]

Ok throughout all history of car sales, vehicles have been offered with a "standard" or "base" model set of features.
The "standard" generally represents the cheapest/easiest to build version, upon which other options are added to, at greater cost/complexity.
For these reasons, it is generally accepted that this will be the top seller, or at least the most built version which can easily be further optioned/upgraded to XLT, Lariat, etc.

The maverick "standard" or "base" model is the HYBRID XL.
Adding ecoboost, AWD, Lariat, etc. costs the customer thousands more dollars. A significant cost increase on a $21k vehicle.

Looking at the numbers for both last year and this year, they got it COMPLETELY BACKWARDS!
They received orders of approximately 2/3 Hybrids and 1/3 EB....exactly what one would expect.
And yet they can produce the exact opposite: approx. 1/3 Hybrid and 2/3 EB

How did they get it so wrong?

If they would just issue a statement saying something like "we cant produce enough batteries to fulfill hybrid demand" it would be more understandable, as that is a part unique to hybrid models. But I haven't seen anything like that, maybe I missed it.
Offering a base model that is 'harder' to build than an optioned one is just backward to me.

Are the escape hybrids also having this same difficulty in being built?
The fact that they can build twice as many EB's leads one to believe that there is some constraint on the hybrid building process. What is it? Why was it offered as the standard?

I absolutely acknowledge that it is a new model and there are lots of production problems to be worked out in the first year or two...but still the standard model should be easiest to produce and where all that problem solving should be focused. I have hard time accepting that they just "underestimated demand" for the hybrid, because they chose the hybrid to be the standard model.....meaning they expected to sell a lot of them. If people want a small 4 cyl gas pickup, there are several other options available.

Enough ranting, any thoughts?

This is a rhetorical question, correct?

 

[Pickles]

Because in general it is true. Unless they are intentionally selling cars at loss. The cost to build is reflected in the final price. There are always exceptions. Also I was using the word "easier" to mean "able to be produced"


Agreed, so its a part shortage that they underestimated, not demand? Why would they offer the lowest price on something that is the hardest to get?




Of course....I absolutely understand their reaction to the situation, any business is going to prioritize selling what they can produce. But Im asking how did they get into this situation?
The ideal situation for both ford and customers is to have production capabilities match demand. Every customer gets what they want, Ford gets good reputation, and ford doesnt produce anything they cant sell (not a problem in this case).



Agreed, but it was only considered a constraint long after they started selling them. They sell them as the STANDARD model....Having the standard model as a constraint is like saying "we cant even build the most basic version of this vehicle."

This is all reasonable. As far as the bit about the cheaper option being harder to get, this is above my competence lol but my assumption has always been that msrp is based on cost, and doesn’t take availability into consideration. But again. Im a simple tradesman lol that bit is further into the weeds than my brain or my interest can take me.
As far as them greatly misevaluating the world landscape with supply chain issues, you could be right, but honestly i dont really care about this part too much. Mostly because i cant change anything about it lol but also because even if its true, its also probably true about hundreds/thousands of companies or even governments whos decisions affect the world in a much more importabt way than auto manufacturers. But hey. Im not here to squash your rant lol you seem like a reasonable person. Fords inability to build hybrids affects your life and you’re annoyed by it. Rant away. Its a free country

 

[Pickles]

How did you take us here from the OP’s original post?

 

[Pickles]

there are NOT any COMPACT gas trucks available to compete with Maverick.

how dare you disrespect hyundai!!!!!

ps: i agree with all you said

 

[bgn]

Ford has no intentions of selling all hybrids for 20k. That's a loss leader. They likely lose money on those units and folks like me who got a 35k Maverick are subsidizing those losses.

This is nothing new in the business world.

Btw, Ford doesn't care that you get what you ordered. They care about moving units. Whether it goes to you or someone else, their bottom line is the same.

 

[TyPope]

"Ford Maverick starting at just $22,195 and gets 42 MPG sold out in under a week. Ford hit a grand slam with this market-leading truck"

IF Ford is losing money (or barely making any) on the Hybrid version, they'd still want to offer it while limiting production without really LOOKING like they are limiting production. The way they are handling production, they can say that they are producing all they can and just can't keep up with demand. Consumers find themselves wanting the popular Maverick that gets such great mileage due to its exclusivity.

But wait, there are none. How about this Maveric EB or even a Ranger? I mean, the Ranger is only $4,000 more and realistically, how much money a year will you actually save on fuel?

 

[BuddyS]

Every manufacturer was caught off guard. Look at Toyota... for years the Prius Prime (Plug-in hybrid) was a very minor seller. With the new Rav4 they made a Prime model likely expecting a similar take rate. Then the world changed (work from home, gas prices, inflation, etc) and consumers' preferences and now they can't even come close to meeting demand for that model. Same with the Sienna, which I believe is available as a hybrid only. I go Toyota's website and it flat-out tells me I can't buy one in my region.

 

[TedTX]

Ford took the opportunity to take the hybrid transmission in house and improve the common industry standard. They didn’t advertise because the Maverick was not there core customers. So did waste money. What they think might happen when you have the cheapest Hybrid and Truck was enough to cover the minimum risk if it wasn’t a outright dud.
Maverick name was chosen because last time they took a risk like this was the car with the same name. They name that car because it was outside there normal core and done with guesto.

The reason they CANT provide the hybrids in the ratio to demand is they are the only ones tooled to manufacture the part. In the past Ford and Toyota shared a group of suppliers. The designs where nearly mirror to each other and the improvements to the designs was controlled heavily by what the suppliers could do. Ford has patents for its improvements that are not shared with Toyota anymore.
The same problems we have with ford not making Mavericks quick. Is effecting their ability to have others make the tools.
They shouldn’t just duplicate the mostly hand placed components of the current toolset ( there are videos of the construction of the hybrid electric motors, you mostly see the back of two women’s hands. )
They know demand, and core customers of the Maverick now.

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