Straight from the horse's mouth- Ford CEO Jim Farley

[Jdub]

Hybrid vs Ecoboost......dealer allocation......options all play a part. There is a legitimate reason for it.

If it makes you feel better I ordered two of the same vehicle (for my business) and only one was scheduled for production. Kind of shows how arbitrary it is.

I know we have no control over what they are going to do so it is just sit and wait. When it gets built it will get built. Just more time to grow the down payment. Hope your second one gets scheduled soon.

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[HarshUrMello]

What did I say that's wrong? But thank you for the incoherent no-sequitur cartoon. Great work.

If you don't get the meme, then you don't understand capitalism.

We can start with the fact that your idea of Capitalism is incorrect. You even said yourself that "pure" capitalism isn't a thing. Capitalism just literally means free trade between private parties.

Somehow you have made the case that if someone has a problem with Crony Capitalism, then they have a problem with Capitalism. How?

Here's some reading that might help:

https://fee.org/articles/4-common-capitalism-myths-debunked/

 

[redskins5]

The irony here is "more profitable" here literally means "we're price gouging some cars/trucks, because the market is allowing us to right now."

I sure hope the U.S. is going to make major investments in public transportation to offset the loss of transport some people are going to experience, because they can't afford to maintain, and/or replace their current vehicles.

Ford is selling to all dealers at the same price, no gouging. The dealers are doing the markup and Ford corp does not see that money they get the same amount regardless of what the dealer marks it up and sells it for.

 

[Jdub]

I am very happy waiting seven months , but I don’t NEED a new vehicle right now. Some on this site have waited long time periods and have either had to buy a used fill in or spent a lot on repairs. I am an October 30 order, but there is no way to spin it by a company that I should get my truck before a June or July order.

I came to the conclusion a few months ago that Henry Ford jumped out of his grave and told them to build JDub's truck last. When it gets here it will be here and I will be happy. My car is about on its last leg, but my brother has an extra car I can use if mine takes a crap.

Good luck on you getting a build date.

 

[Decayed]

If you don't get the meme, then you don't understand capitalism.

We can start with the fact that your idea of Capitalism is incorrect. You even said yourself that "pure" capitalism isn't a thing. Capitalism just literally means free trade between private parties.

Somehow you have made the case that if someone has a problem with Crony Capitalism, then they have a problem with Capitalism. How?

Here's some reading that might help:

https://fee.org/articles/4-common-capitalism-myths-debunked/

And a lot of people confuse capitalism with private free enterprise. Capitalism is about capital - seed money to invest in things. Free enterprise is the ability of individuals to engage in whatever trade or business they choose. Capitalists fund enterprise (free or not). In a healthy market with low barriers to entry and competition, the customer gets the best choices as to how to spend their money.

People get too hung up on the terms and the terms themselves have become loaded with alternative meaning and emotional shading. What's really important is a free market with healthy competition.

What an individual company like Ford does to weather adverse economic conditions is just common sense actions to maintain profitability. They aren't in business to make cars, they're in business to make a profit. Which is a hell of a lot better than losing money since then they can't make anything at all.

 

[Wilky4258]

Well, they have to say that, but fact is that Ford and top Ford brass haven't made profits like this thanks to the "insert XYZ shortage" in decades.

High production low-profit price wars with other manufacturers was a far less profitable business model than the current low production high-profit one, and they aren't going to be working hard to "fix" things back to the way they were when they had to hire more workers and give you huge discounts off MSRP to move the inventory. This isn't really a surprise, as other industries have been caught and heavily fined for intentionally reducing productivity with secret collusion in the past (LCDs suddenly became so much cheaper for example because the three companies that manufactured almost all of them were convicted of price fixing and intentionally keeping production low), so while they may not have manufactured this crisis with a conspiracy, they sure as heck will be happy to keep things like this as long as possible.

Here's a graphic from C&D showing how consumers are suffering:

Well done! You are absolutely correct. This will be the new business model for all of the companies moving forward. It has been the "chip shortage" this year and will be something else every year from now on. Pay MSRP if you Order. Pay Adjusted Market Value if you don't. What fools we are!

 

[brnpttmn]

If you don't get the meme, then you don't understand capitalism.

We can start with the fact that your idea of Capitalism is incorrect. You even said yourself that "pure" capitalism isn't a thing. Capitalism just literally means free trade between private parties.

Somehow you have made the case that if someone has a problem with Crony Capitalism, then they have a problem with Capitalism. How?

Here's some reading that might help:

https://fee.org/articles/4-common-capitalism-myths-debunked/

I didn't state anywhere that capitalism is "wrong." Simply that it's not "capitalist" to say that Ford should be less profitable to make certain customers happy. Capitalism is not "free trade between private parties." Capitalism is the ownership of the means of production by private parties. I don't want to get into the "crony" capitalism because it will likely get overtly political, but I'll give you a hint: it has a lot to do with the "pure" capitalism conundrum.

 

[Turtle]

I'm a shareholder. Ford [F] is doing very well right now. As for Ford's shift to most profitable vehicle segment - if you consider their move away from sedans to produce SUVs and Trucks then I believe that represents what Ford CEO was suggesting. After all, the XLT is the big seller, not the Lariat.
Either way, I'm looking forward to delivery day for my new Maverick Lariat like a child looks forward to Christmas.

MTC is getting way 2 political. Anyone want to discuss hard versus soft tonneau covers but this is BS. Wake up, slap cold water on your face and get a grip.

 

[Michaelkov]

MTC is getting way 2 political. Anyone want to discuss hard versus soft tonneau covers but this is BS. Wake up, slap cold water on your face and get a grip.

Sorry - the link to the tonneau discussion is here: https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/hard-roll-up-vs-soft-tri-fold-tonneau-covers.7045/ The topic you are currently commenting on is:
Straight from the horse's mouth- Ford CEO Jim Farley

Have a great day!

 

[Turtle]

Sorry - the link to the tonneau discussion is here: https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/forum/threads/hard-roll-up-vs-soft-tri-fold-tonneau-covers.7045/ The topic you are currently commenting on is:
Straight from the horse's mouth- Ford CEO Jim Farley

Have a great day!

Than you

 

[DryHeat]

High production low-profit price wars with other manufacturers was a far less profitable business model than the current low production high-profit one, and they aren't going to be working hard to "fix" things back to the way they were when they had to hire more workers and give you huge discounts off MSRP to move the inventory. ... they sure as heck will be happy to keep things like this as long as possible.

Of course auto manufacturers don't want to give huge discounts. Who would? That's one major reason for moving to a build-to-order model. (Note: I'm talking about Ford here, not dealerships.)

But I'm not as certain as you are that Ford wants to maintain what you describe as a low-production high-profit situation. My guess is that Ford would like to get back to a higher production level but continue to move to build-to-order to avoid excessive inventory and discounts. After all, they likely could have sold another 50,000 Mavericks without discounts this year if they could have produced them.

How that strategy would impact the consumer would depend on how Ford set its prices, but higher production would at least reduce dealer markup and take pressure off used car prices. And when I look at the MSRP on the Maverick and the Lightening Work Truck, things don't look that bad for the buyer.

(Note: You might want to check out this website which has a lot of historical information on Ford's revenue, gross profits, net income, margins, etc. I take a lot of the pandemic-era figures with a grain of salt ... too many confounding factors in play. But the revenue figures and margins don't look that great over pre-pandemic times. They need to sell more vehicles.)

 

[Maverickman74]

If only they could build a truck like the Maverick with significantly less built in technology. I wonder how much less semiconductors would be needed if it just had a radio, a efi system, a traction system, and cruise control? No active lights, active wipers, backup cameras, lane awareness, no phone connections other than speaker phone, screens in dash that show you how hot the heated butt wipers are. Would it make it 100lbs lighter(increasing payload) and more efficient? Would it be cheaper to build and maximize profits further? Save all that tech for the Lincolns and EVs and just build a basic good cheap truck. If you need all that junk for $20,000, I'm sorry but you have gone soft and lazy.

 

[zeketolliver]

Ford is selling to all dealers at the same price, no gouging. The dealers are doing the markup and Ford corp does not see that money they get the same amount regardless of what the dealer marks it up and sells it for.

A vehicle is "more profitable for Ford" if the profit margin is higher when sold at MSRP. The dealerships want to make a profit, and so does Ford Motor Company. Make no mistake, Ford Mo Co is taking notes and WILL increase MSRP if/when dealers prove customers are willing to pay above MSRP.

 

[TC in MN]

Because like me you're a customer first and foremost and just like a business should stick up for its own interests over that of the customer you should be sticking up for your interests, that's just common sense. Most customers don't like being price gouged and waiting for months for commodities. Besides, its pretty clear this market is not normal and isn't operating on laissez faire free-market pure capitalism and there's plenty of crony capitalism market interference going on with net worth of the billionaire politically connected class skyrocketing in the last couple of years (now at $5.5 Trillion increase since March 2020 per Forbes).

Yes, there are some 745 US billionaires as of October 2021, 11 times that number since 1990 and they are worth $5 trillion while the bottom half of of US households are worth a total of $3 trillion according to Americans for Tax Fairness ( Time Magazine, January 24, 2022 issue, article - The super rich stepped in to save a city, some say they made it worse).

 

[Mikee]

Let’s not forget Ford’s customers are the dealerships…. Not us
It’s the dealers that have all the say in what we end up paying

Exactly. Ford may or may not be selectively building the most profitable models but the dealers are the ones gouging with extreme ADMs

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