Intentionally limiting production of Mavericks??

[Yvonne Federowicz]

According to Bloomberg news (Why airfares, hotels and cars are getting so expensive for Americans)
(The article may be behind a pay wall, here is an alternate link Bloomberg - alternate link)

"Ford Motor Co. said this month it is aiming to maintain robust sticker prices, even if that means rolling fewer cars off its assembly lines."

Other general excerpts:
"The pricing tactics reflect lessons of earlier phases of the pandemic: When Ford and its rivals struggled with a chip shortage, they saw running with a thinner backlog of cars had profit upside."

If this really is Ford's new pricing and production strategy the odds of getting a Ford Maverick or any other popular Ford vehicle is much lower and likely to be more expensive. It does cause me to question how much longer I will wait...

Mavericks might not be the issue; they still have a shortage! My dealer has zillions of 150s and Rangers sitting on the lot though.

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[Skifletch]

Meh... news sells... bad news sells more.

Don't get too worked up about what media outlets pretend to know... a single soundbite doesn't write the whole song...

We're unindated with it... shucks... we're probably guilty of starting and spreading it a fair amount ourselves.

We're not in the middle of a flipper/scalper apocalypse, ford isn't inherently evil, biden/trump aren't completely responsible...

it's economic ebb/flow... it's supply/demand... with some world altering conflicts and events beyond our control over in this hemisphere.

However, if Ford thinks they can normalize what scalpers and opportunistic dealers have done in the short term, then that would be a grave error. They make too many misteps with features and pricing of the Maverick and they'll slow sales of it and steer folks away from the brand.

Ford needs the entry level Maverick to bring people to the brand; otherwise the F150s will just keep piling up (https://www.kbb.com/car-news/car-dealers-have-almost-normal-inventory-again/ - F150 stock levels at 80/90 days...) Ask the dutch about tulips...

Need more like button. Especially the bolded portion. I bought a Maverick simply because it was the only vehicle in the size/capabilities/form factor/price for sale having never owned a Ford before. I never would have even considered owning a Ford absent the Maverick. If it goes well, I may consider again, but I'm exactly the entry level owner they should be courting. Jack that price up another 15% and I'd not only be reconsidering but also be bashing them.

 

[Skifletch]

Mavericks might not be the issue; they still have a shortage! My dealer has zillions of 150s and Rangers sitting on the lot though.

Interesting. My dealer is a family of multiple locations through out the City. They had all of 3 Rangers for sale across the multiple dealers and only a few dozen F-series. Lot still was a ghost town when I picked the Mav up 3 weeks ago

 

[livinloa]

According to Bloomberg news (Why airfares, hotels and cars are getting so expensive for Americans)
(The article may be behind a pay wall, here is an alternate link Bloomberg - alternate link)

"Ford Motor Co. said this month it is aiming to maintain robust sticker prices, even if that means rolling fewer cars off its assembly lines."

Other general excerpts:
"The pricing tactics reflect lessons of earlier phases of the pandemic: When Ford and its rivals struggled with a chip shortage, they saw running with a thinner backlog of cars had profit upside."

If this really is Ford's new pricing and production strategy the odds of getting a Ford Maverick or any other popular Ford vehicle is much lower and likely to be more expensive. It does cause me to question how much longer I will wait...

This may be true for many makes and models, but I'm thinking the reason Ford doesn't make more Mavericks is the profit margin. Isn't the Mav the lowest priced vehicle in their lineup? And one of the most popular with through-the-roof buyer satisfaction?
That might also explain why most production capacity goes to the Bronco.

 

[grumpyunk]

If you don't get them to the showroom to see the new "whatever" because as the lowest priced thing they sell, the ain't gonna show up to see the F-150 even when marked down $12,000 from a $110,000 MSRP.
They will look to Honda, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, all of whom make vehicles priced tens of thousands lower than a FoMoCo loss leader. Especially when the loss-leader is never in stock, and if ordered, the wait time is unpredictable. They refuse to make things that sell, and thereby lock in their future(lack of customers moving up)

 

[SLINGSHOT]

This may be true for many makes and models, but I'm thinking the reason Ford doesn't make more Mavericks is the profit margin. Isn't the Mav the lowest priced vehicle in their lineup? And one of the most popular with through-the-roof buyer satisfaction?
That might also explain why most production capacity goes to the Bronco.

Make money $1 at a time for a million times, or $1,000,000 one time. It's still a MILLION dollars. The suits are not smart enough to see that.

I know of one truck that they had better build SOON, or they can stuff it up their ass.

 

[Yvonne Federowicz]

Interesting. My dealer is a family of multiple locations through out the City. They had all of 3 Rangers for sale across the multiple dealers and only a few dozen F-series. Lot still was a ghost town when I picked the Mav up 3 weeks ago

Mine has a couple of locations. I haven't been watching this carefully, just saying my general impressions from this winter when I was stalking them for Mavericks.

The rows of Rangers and F-150s and 250s and whatnot seemed endless... no little Mavericks to be found...

 

[gwrace14651]

This lines up with what lucky lopez has been saying on youtube. The only way to keep prices high when demand is low is to throttle production and claim chip shortages and supply chain issues. He calls it all BS.

 

[dcs12345]

This lines up with what lucky lopez has been saying on youtube. The only way to keep prices high when demand is low is to throttle production and claim chip shortages and supply chain issues. He calls it all BS.

You have to cut production when demand drops..especially when the cost of building the product doesn't drop, but instead increases.

If this was something like tables, couches, or some other thing that model year doesn't matter such as most electronics (I know I don't care if my TV is a 2021 vs 2023 model), then sure you can keep pumping them out. But with vehicles, nobody wants a brand new 2024 when the current model year is 2026....and dealers don't want to pay tax on a hundred vehicles on their lot that are not moving.

 

[Ktowntimmy]

They underpriced the truck.

Yeah, probably…but in manufacturing, it’s always a crapshoot when you roll out a new item. If not for the pandemic scaring the crap out of everyone and creating supply chain issues, production vs sales may have been more in line. The rollout plan was in place long before the pandemic. In the end, hindsight is 20/20.

 

[Greg_in_GA]

Ford would be making plenty on the Maverick if it was not for the costs of the recalls and warranty work on a new model.

I highly suspect that they have been limiting the production numbers until they could get most of the glitches with a new model worked out.

 

[Joofchicago]

I’m looking at other mfg. / models. Sat in a Santa Crus today. I like the car, but it’s too small for me.

Hard to see out that small rear window.

 

[olman]

Hard to see out that small rear window.

I can see out the Maverick back window a lot better since I removed the rear seat headrests. Nobody sits back there anyway.

 

[Markii56]

According to Bloomberg news (Why airfares, hotels and cars are getting so expensive for Americans)
(The article may be behind a pay wall, here is an alternate link Bloomberg - alternate link)

"Ford Motor Co. said this month it is aiming to maintain robust sticker prices, even if that means rolling fewer cars off its assembly lines."

Other general excerpts:
"The pricing tactics reflect lessons of earlier phases of the pandemic: When Ford and its rivals struggled with a chip shortage, they saw running with a thinner backlog of cars had profit upside."

If this really is Ford's new pricing and production strategy the odds of getting a Ford Maverick or any other popular Ford vehicle is much lower and likely to be more expensive. It does cause me to question how much longer I will wait...

Assuming things haven't changed since I was selling the only way you'll get a Maverick is to order it from the highest-volume dealership you can find. The big boys get allocated the most vehicles; I sometimes wonder how the little guys stay in business.

 

[TheSEARCH]

No idea what Fiord is doing BUT Toyota made record number of vehicles in 2022. HIGHEST ever. Yet they on purpose shorted N. America. Plus the vehicles sent 80 percent were the top three loaded versions. Info from Caredge on youtube .

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