Open letter to Ford Motor Company: please release MY23 order guide days before order bank opening

[999]

I'm rarely serious.

Hahahah!

That is assuming your sig isnt meant to be serious....

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[999]

Would you like a refund?

You should speak to Tim's manager....

any maybe timbo smalls could also make a realistic length video summarizing things as opposed to talking for over an hour each video.

 

[WNYEscapee]

With all the shutdowns and supplier issues we've seen in the past couple years now, it is understandable that there could be some issues in unveiling order guides. I expect that some changes are still held up for pricing and availability issues to be sorted. Heck, we have customers cars sitting in our lots for excess of three or more months for backordered parts.
As it is, I'm going to inform my salesman what my choices are the day before, then meet with him after I get off work to discuss them in case the order guide order guide actually has come out and we can proceed with my order when the order bank opens. Our sales manager says not to be surprised if it isn't opened on time, but later in the afternoon.
I'll be prepared, but holding my breath.

 

[CactusJack]

There is literally nothing they could have done different or better to build products in this environment.

i find that hard to believe.

A lot of companies could have done a lot of things different. I'll leave it at that so I don't get banned again.

 

[Bob The Builder]

Spoke with my dealer today. He tells me to expect that the situation will manifest itself similar to the F150 as the MY23 ordering info will become available sometime during the day of the 2nd. He says that of the 20 people waiting to order a Maverick at the dealership there are only a few of us ordering an EB and expects similar delays in MY23 fulfilling hybrids. I will be meeting with him tomorrow to review everything and get us both on the same page. At this point not sure if actual ordering will happen for me on the 2nd or 3rd. Still lots of questions.

Ford could go a long way to simplifying this process if they just release the info on the 1st and give us all and the dealers a day to digest whatever changes have occurred. I realize times are tough, but honestly, only asking for a day here not asking to cure cancer.

 

[Old Ranchero]

Y'all do know how some of us only found out about the Maverick after the order banks closed, right? There's a good chance they'll close them early again, and a remote chance they'll sell out on opening day. Better to get it in while we can, than get stuck waiting another year or buying at some insane markup.

I understand your thinking. However, I disagree order banks were closed early for MY2022. Middle June to Middle November for hybrid, and actually to end of January 2022 for ECOboost. All of us on here are really invested in this vehicle, but the general population of car buyers? Probably not so much. I would bet there is ZERO chance they sell out capacity to build 100k+ 2023 Mavericks on Day 1 of ordering- and guarantee most folks will still be waiting many months to get theirs built and delivered. IMO, Better to just enjoy the roller coaster ride knowing eventually you will have a new Maverick and enjoy life as much as possible while waiting since we have NO control over the process or timing of it

 

[Tone]

For the first 6 months of this year, so Jan-June, Ford has built 51,072 Maverick’s.

From Ford's published manufacturing numbers:

January '22	7842
February '22	9184
March '22	9778
April '22	9179
May '22	7842
June '22	7539

equals 51364. With the last two months dropping off in number there's likely to only be 7000 or so for the remaining months which puts them at a total close to 100,000. Maybe they are shooting for that goal.
I find it interesting that the production fell off just as the Lightning started production. I think the chips are being prioritized to the more profitable models.

 

[Old Ranchero]

From Ford's published manufacturing numbers:

January '22	7842
February '22	9184
March '22	9778
April '22	9179
May '22	7842
June '22	7539

equals 51364. With the last two months dropping off in number there's likely to only be 7000 or so for the remaining months which puts them at a total close to 100,000. Maybe they are shooting for that goal.
I find it interesting that the production fell off just as the Lightning started production. I think the chips are being prioritized to the more profitable models.

I'm curious what leads to your conclusion that all Ford ICs are interchangeable between vehicle models, instead of application specific? I haven't seen any information they can be redirected to more popular and profitable models and would be surprised if it was true.

 

[Tone]

Some chips will be generic meaning they can be used in lots of places, some will be custom and proprietary specific to individual models. I don't know that Ford had said which chips are constricted. It's just my speculation that something like that occured when the Lightning came online.

 

[Sembazuru]

I would expect most chips to be generic. An example that I've heard recently is heated seats. Really all that takes is a CANBUS transceiver, a temperature controller, and some power mosfets. Any half-decent microcontroller can do both the CANBUS and temperature control, that is all programming. The actual chip itself can be mostly generic. Although the realities of production mean that Ford is probably using one specific family of chips so the programming environment is consistent and the boards that hold said chips expect a specific pin-out. I would expect that they may now have at least a couple chips that they can pull from depending on which one is available on the market when they put their order in, but it takes time to evaluate, design around, and qualify the new parts/assemblies.

My company recently had to do something similar to be able to sell our products. My department (hardware test) was flooded with so called "Assurance of Supply" testing to make sure that parts built with an alternate chip would perform as expected. We even had to do testing on a pin-compatible drop-in part (memory chip alternate manufacturer) that had no other changes on the board. We couldn't sell any products that used the new alternate chips until my department signed off that the change didn't affect the operation of our product. (I honestly don't know what the inventory counts of the chips were so I didn't know if I actually held up production, or if we were able to complete the testing before production needed the alternate part.)

 

[James D]

For the first 6 months of this year, so Jan-June, Ford has built 51,072 Maverick’s. I do not have the numbers for what they were able to produce in 2021. But then you also have what is left for July, August, and September Of this year. Positive thoughts…

I don't know Stacy, the numbers don't make sense.

Only 2 1/2 months from launch, as of August 23, 2021, Ford CEO Farley bragged about already having 100,000 Maverick reservations before most even knew the Mav existed. https://www.motor1.com/news/528403/ford-maverick-reservations-three-states/

Taking orders through Jan 2022 must mean tens of thousands more orders but the numbers are not adding up: My understanding is sharing the Hermosillo plant with the Bronco Sport limits Mav production to 10,000/month or less at full capacity. That is only 120,000 per year assuming the supply chain issues suddenly clear up.

I personally know someone who ordered a XLT hybrid on June 8, 2021 right after launch way before the long line, but he is still waiting. That is wrong.

So with all of last year's orders still in limbo, Ford accepting 2023 orders seems pointless and will likely upset a lot more people. No wonder they delayed the date, then used guys like Tim at Long Mac to spin it as a benefit to 2022MY order holders.

Now that millions more know the Maverick exists, my bet is whatever new 2023 MY orders Ford squeezes in will close in weeks maybe days, not months like last year.

Here is Farley's email if you want to ask him what is going on. He probably won't answer but I would expect his assistant to read and report to the board a summary of what is stated on the emails. [email protected]

 

[Suzysparks]

I don't know Stacy, the numbers don't make sense.

Only 2 1/2 months from launch, as of August 23, 2021, Ford CEO Farley bragged about already having 100,000 Maverick reservations before most even knew the Mav existed. https://www.motor1.com/news/528403/ford-maverick-reservations-three-states/

Taking orders through Jan 2022 must mean tens of thousands more orders but the numbers are not adding up: My understanding is sharing the Hermosillo plant with the Bronco Sport limits Mav production to 10,000/month or less at full capacity. That is only 120,000 per year assuming the supply chain issues suddenly clear up.

I personally know someone who ordered a XLT hybrid on June 8, 2021 right after launch way before the long line, but he is still waiting. That is wrong.

So with all of last year's orders still in limbo, Ford accepting 2023 orders seems pointless and will likely upset a lot more people. No wonder they delayed the date, then used guys like Tim at Long Mac to spin it as a benefit to 2022MY order holders.

Now that millions more know the Maverick exists, my bet is whatever new 2023 MY orders Ford squeezes in will close in weeks maybe days, not months like last year.

Here is Farley's email if you want to ask him what is going on. He probably won't answer but I would expect his assistant to read and report to the board a summary of what is stated on the emails. [email protected]

I got the numbers directly from Automotive News magazine. I like to think they are legitimate.

 

[Timothyd]

It makes sense if you are not consumed by FOMO. How about backing off and not being so concerned about ordering the 1st day? Or the 1st week, month? WAIT until everything needed to make a sound decision is available. You don't NEED TO be 1st or "front of the line" to order a Maverick do you? We know it will be a case of "hurry up and wait" for many months AFTER you order. You'll be able to order for many months and this is Summer and tons of other fun and pleasant things to do - so why not turn your focus to those for awhile? We all know there are other avenues and work arounds for getting a Maverick if you NEED 1 sooner, and the trade off will be probably paying more than what some people here will approve of (ignore them- it's not their $ or decision) and the used market is now coming back to Earth. We've seen many people intercept an incoming vehicle or take advantage of a refused retail order- it can be done with a little extra work. I don't get why people are so stressed about about the order process which they have no control over. Life is too short for that

I didn't NEED to be first in line a year ago. However, it's a year later. Needs change over time. It's nice to talk about being generous and patient but enough is enough. It's my turn to go to the head of the line! I'm not listening to others or taking bad advice I'm just due. Life is too short to wait in line forever.

 

[Old Ranchero]

I didn't NEED to be first in line a year ago. However, it's a year later. Needs change over time. It's nice to talk about being generous and patient but enough is enough. It's my turn to go to the head of the line! I'm not listening to others or taking bad advice I'm just due. Life is too short to wait in line forever.

Agree, life is too short. Stress can cause all kinds of life shortening conditions too though, and stressing over a situation you have no control over is not healthy. I'm still waiting for mine too, and I'm certainly more anxious than when I first started this journey. The thing about trying to get to the head of the line is you probably won't even get ordered the 1st day order banks open, even if you have a signed purchase agreement + deposit with your dealer There's thousands of dealers out there taking pre-orders representing probably multiple thousands of orders to enter and they can't magically be ordered at the same time. Even if they have multiple people entering the orders, each 1 will probably take 1/2 hour to enter carefully and correctly so a lot of the pre-orders are not going in the 1st day anyways. Wouldn't surprise me if Ford's WBDO server crashes or at least gets bogged way down by the extra heavy traffic.

Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it seems like the reality and some people are still going to have a wait from day 1 of ordering and are hopefully able to deal with additional waiting and a lot of orders needing allocations in front of them no matter the rush to order. We don't have to like it, but it is what it is. Good Luck!

 

[James D]

I got the numbers directly from Automotive News magazine. I like to think they are legitimate.

Sorry Stacy I was not clear, your numbers are good but Ford's makes no sense. If they can only produce max 120k per year but they already had 100k reservations as of a year ago, they won't be able to take enough orders to fill the demand. It would be nice if they were transparent and told us their backlog but they won't.

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