When is Ford Converting Another Plant to Build Mavericks?

[anblatt]

I would be shocked if Ford started building Mavs in another plant. As others have stated there's a huge cost factor. It looks like Bronco Sport production is caught up with demand. I expect most of the new 3rd shift will go toward Mav production.

I would like to think that too. My local dealer has 16 new Bronco Sports in three different trim levels sitting on their lot and 10 more coming in. I have only seen one stock Maverick anywhere and it sold in one day with a $4000 additional dealer profit fee.

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[TheSEARCH]

I would like to think that too. My local dealer has 16 new Bronco Sports in three different trim levels sitting on their lot and 10 more coming in. I have only seen one stock Maverick anywhere and it sold in one day with a $4000 additional dealer profit fee.

Same here. Many Bronco sports around me. Bronco no Bronco sports easy to get. So I HOPE they just ad more Mavs. Preferably hybrid ones.

 

[Maverickman74]

Hmm nobody mentioned that the Escape is doing well and could be going away soon. Logically that would bring Bronco Sport production atleast partially into the Escape facility allowing more room on the line in Hermasillo for Mavericks. I could see a flip in priority down there where they build a majority of Mavericks and only a few Bronco Sports, possibly just export units.

 

[Nugget]

Which plant is being underutilized? Where would the extra powertrain come from? Why does the OP think he understand the demand over the next 2 years better than Ford?

 

[OleFordGuy]

Probably Never on a low margin less profitable vehicle. High margin vehicles like F150, Superduty, Expeditions, Mustangs, etc
Mean $$$ to Ford

 

[paneubert]

Which plant is being underutilized? Where would the extra powertrain come from? Why does the OP think he understand the demand over the next 2 years better than Ford?

To add to your list, does the OP not realize a third shift is soon being added to the facility that DOES manufacture the Maverick?

 

[aitch-2-oh]

“…building end-of-life vehicles…”

Probably just me, but this particular phrasing forced me to ask myself “when did Ford buy the Hearse company?”.

Another voice in my head (it gets loud at times) shouted “you know darn well what he meant “…

And yet another voice yelled “ANY vehicle can be an end-of-life vehicle, in the wrong circumstances”.

All these voices, eventually, drowned each other out, leaving only the buzz of white noise to be coped with. A lovely mess…

 

[ShadowBlack XL440]

Just looking at the production numbers, it seems like Ford is not going to ever catch up their Maverick production capacity to their outstanding orders. This extreme lack of capacity is especially obvious for the hybrid production. Some people still do not have their 2021 orders built. It feels like multiple levels of management need to be fired for their part in this extreme debacle.
Aside from the ordering process incompetence, Ford have multiple other plants either running below capacity or building end-of-life vehicles. It seems pretty obvious looking in from the outside, that they need to more than double their Maverick production capacity, and if you account for the presumably large number of buyers who have held off ordering because of the production mess, possibly even triple the existing production capacity. I realize that they are adding 80,000 vehicles in Hermasillo in 3 months, but that probably means that about 50,000 of those are Bronco Sport models, not Mavericks. Pushing buyers to frustration with 500-day wait times and forcing a move to a Ranger, Nissan Frontier or Chevy Colorado that don't even fit in a standard garage and get wose gas mileage than the F150 seems to be the wrong move on every front. It looks like finally adding that third shift is going to be totally inadequate to fulfill the order backlog in less than 4 years.
So, the solution is also totally obvious - When is Ford management going to fix the problem and convert at least one underutilized or soon to be idled plant to build Mavericks?

I can guarantee you if I don't get my 2023 Maverick Hybrid built, I will not reward Ford buy purchasing a different Ford model that I did not want to begin with. Another manufacture will get my Maverick money before Ford.

 

[torner]

My brother works for Ford and he said that there is a rumor that one of the Louisville plants is going to be getting vehicles to build that Mexico can't keep up with

 

[RedRider]

Which plant is being underutilized? Where would the extra powertrain come from? Why does the OP think he understand the demand over the next 2 years better than Ford?

Oakville is ending Edge production this year. Flint Rock used to make Mustangs. The Escape is rumoured to be ending production soon at Hermasillo. Nobody is buying the Fiesta or Focus that are mostly made in Europe. Fire up the mothballed original Dearborn plant. Volkswagon has purchased the St. Thomas truck plant to make their EV-series battery packs, so do a deal and buy back some capacity. The Escape is also made in Louisville, so they already build vehicles with the correct C2 platform parts. The 2.0 engine originally came from Spain, where they have at least one plant fully idle now. The 2.5 is a Mazda-sourced design, and could be built in any of a half-dozen plants including several in the far east. The Hybrid eCVT is a design sourced from Toyota, and will probably also be built in Oakville at some point. Weird shortages like the trailer hitch or the tonneau cover is just poor parts sourcing, as there are at least a dozen manufacturers in North America alone. The chip shortage is fake - has anyone else looked at the collapsing PC industry lately and how that frees up many millions of chips?
Is that enough, or do you need the other half dozen plants that could also be making Mavericks pretty easily? For the last 25 years, Ford has been putting together "flexible" assemby lines at every plant, that can make many different models on the same line, so it should be pretty easy.

 

[RedRider]

This exactly all day long! The Maverick was always intended as a gateway drug for Ford. As in, "want a maverick hybrid sorry sold out, but we can order you a more expensive Escape Hybrid. Want an Ecoboost Maverick, sorry sold out, but we can get you a Ranger$$$ got six of them sitting on the lot!" Same story for F-150, Bronco Sport, or whichever upsell best fits your reason for being lured into a Ford dealership for a Maverick in the first place.

That would only make sense if the frustrated Customers were only moving to other Fords. Looking over this site, its pretty easy to see that they are in upset with Ford mismanagement, and are fact moving to anything except Ford. GM and Nissan are getting their business instead.

 

[hooliganmom]

I wouldn't be surprised at all if they aren't making money. Ford needs the Maverick in its lineup to make its manufacturer fuel efficiency ratings look better, doesn't it? A truck with a 38 combined rating goes a long way to offset the 12 feet to a gallon that an F350 gets lol. And believe me, they aren't losing money on the F350. So, build a factory in Mexico, make 20,000 of these hybrids a year, and cash in on your monster trucks. All while saying look at us...we sell fuel efficient vehicles! Ford is getting tons of positive publicity, so they may not give two hoots about losing a few hundred bucks on every Mav.

 

[anblatt]

That would only make sense if the frustrated Customers were only moving to other Fords. Looking over this site, its pretty easy to see that they are in upset with Ford mismanagement, and are fact moving to anything except Ford. GM and Nissan are getting their business instead.

That is true I've seen some Toyota's, Kia's, and Honda's as well!

 

[RedRider]

To add to your list, does the OP not realize a third shift is soon being added to the facility that DOES manufacture the Maverick?

Yeah, that's only 30,000 Mavs, or nowhere near enough to even build the unfulfilled MY23 vehicles in MY24 and maybe even MY25. If they add in dealer stock, fleet, phev, awd hybrids and held-off purchases, they're going to need 10x that much production capacity.

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