Interview with Ford CEO & Executives Gives Insight Into Current Management, and Why Unibody Construction For Maverick

[WNYEscapee]

It's getting late, and I'll be short. Great interview, down to earth, reserved, humble, and simple openness. Makes me wish I could sit down with Farley too.
I'm not totally sold on EVs, believing hybrids are far better at this time, though I'll acknowledge the capacitor battery is going to be the game changer. Fast charge and slow draw, with many times better longevity, too.
Such battery development is where Ford perhaps needs to work with another manufacturer to develop/perfect such a battery. It's the game changer! Bring recharge times down to that of traditional refueling -- minute vs. hours. Without the need for rare Earth metals, it would actually be better for the environment than they hype they're giving us now. We just need the US power grid to be capable of handling such a demand, too.

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[OleFordGuy]

Working at a dealership you realize all the problems they have just being able to keep something of a reasonable supply of parts distribution going. Any and virtually everything has cycled on and off of backorder at least once or twice. It's very frustrating to try and assist a customer with the repair of their vehicle when the parts to do so just aren't available and nobody can tell you when they will be. And as for aftermarket parts, they are not faring much better, either -- try and service a used vehicle only to find that rotors aren't available anywhere and all potential sources tell you it's likely to be a couple months.
Knowing this, you can understand why it is that some vehicle lines aren't churning out orders on a regular and consistent level. And knowing this, you shouldn't be expecting a vehicle to be supplied to you in a matter of a couple weeks.
That said, some people have had the most amazing patience waiting for their Maverick, and I know I'll be anxious to get mine, yet I know that when my order goes in, it will be in line with thousands of others, and their future owners will be just as anxious to receive them -- and yet some others, knowing the issues that have existed, will be displaying some level near that of a mental illness as they wait for theirs, coming unglued and ranting and raving about how it's Ford's fault suppliers can't get materials or hire enough people to do the jobs which need to be performed in order for their vehicle to be produced. There's still restaurants here that, if they haven't closed, have closed a day or two a week because they can't hire people to allow them to remain open like they used to be prior to the Wuhan lockdown. ...and some businesses are paying well above NY state minimum wage at $15-20/hr. It's just the way it is, people need to realize this as for some length of time this is going to be the new "normal" we have to live with.

So Very Well Said !!!

 

[Automate]

Kind of promising to see Ford is in these hands.

Until you look at Maverick and all the things outside of the vehicle that Ford has messed up and ruined the customer experience.

And no, I'm NOT talking about the long build delays. I understand there are many supply chain issues that are outside of Ford's control.

I'm talking about easy things that are within Ford's control like the bone head decision to use an antiquated dealer allocation system when all the vehicles are being made to customer orders. And then lying about it to their customers.

They can talk all they want about the how sophisticated their in-car computers are but then their vehicle ordering system is from the 1990s.

A system that sends out an email telling a customer they have an order but in fact the dealer has not completed the ROVP process. Resulting in customers waiting a year for their vehicle and then finding out they never really had a valid order. An online customer order status page that does not show anything about the order until many months later when your vehicle finally gets a VIN.

I can order a $5 widget from Amazon and go online and see my order confirmation, scheduled delivery day, even how many stops away the delivery truck is.

But purchase a $25,000 vehicle from Ford and there is no way for the customer to go online and confirm for themselves that their dealer has completed ROVP and they actual have a valid order or confirm what options are on their order.

Whoever is responsible for the design and implementation of their backend vehicle ordering handling system needs to be fired on the spot.

 

[Scott Asheville]

>> I'm not totally sold on EVs...

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that position. When BEVs reach a value proposition and model offering that appeals to each of us individually, that's when we should buy - and not a second sooner. I'm a huge BEV fan who doesn't own a BEV - because they haven't quite crossed that line for me personally. I think they will in about two years. That line is different for each of us, and that's how it should be. Some on this forum will never buy a BEV. Cool - that's called freedom.

The money being thrown at BEVs is insane. The money being thrown at ICEs is vanishing. The outcome is not in question. But when we reach that outcome is very much in question.

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