Defending Ford's Production Shortages

[Rolandus]

I think you need to look at this from Ford's perspective as well. When they designed this car they never anticipated the overwhelming popularity of this little truck. At the time of original design, gas prices were about half of what they are now, and they calculated demand for this truck based on those parameters. Because of cheap gas prices at that time, they calculated limited demand and assigned only a single factory to produce these. Ford was caught off guard by the sudden increase in gas prices, which threw a curve in their initial truck demand calculations. On top of that, throw in the Covid related economy slow-downs that hampered 3rd party parts suppliers. To Ford's credit, they refrained from significant price increases to lessen demand to shorter the wait times. They could have easily increased prices by $5,000-$8,000, to meet initial demand calculations, by actually lessening demand. So, the choice is clear, would you rather wait for your order, or pay $5,000-$8,000 more?

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[Mav_RICK]

The fact is there are issues for many vehicles that are in high demand, not just Ford vehicles. I think they should do like Toyota actually. Give dealerships allocations and then send them what can be produced. No special orders. If the build works for the buyer in line fine if not move on to the next in line until someone takes it.

 

[FriscoTXJoe]

Bro, you are swimming against a strong stream here at MTC. The overwhelming attitude seems to be somewhat similar to a newly 16 year old rich girl who hasn't gotten her new BMW yet.

This is the place to complain.

Good luck!

 

[KSC Grey Ghost]

I'm sorry but I respectfully just do not agree with you defending Ford . A 1st grader would know if you make a Hybrid Pickup for 19,995 that it's is going to sale like mad get real . Also they had the same problem with the broncos over sold them just like the Mavericks and customers are waiting over a year plus for there vehicle and not getting it but Rolled Over to the next year It happened with the 22 Mavericks not enough production now it is going to happen with the 23 Mavericks not enough production but this year no price protection . Just have a TRUE CUT OFF NUMBER and do not take over that number of ORDERS It happened in 22 now in 23 Sorry I blame 100% They are smarter then that

 

[fossil]

An under capacity assembly plant is a financial drain. It would be ideal, from Ford's (among others) perspective, that all their plants would be 3 shift operations providing they don't exceed demand. To fill capacity you sometimes have to build on common platforms like Escape/Corsair, Ranger/Bronco, Sport/Maverick and others in the past. These share common tools, body shop, paint department and assembly lines to cut costs and satisfy the true costumer, the stock holders.

To make the best Maverick possible it would have had it's own plant and not be saddled with Bronco Sport/Escape compromises and thus cost much more. They don't build to satisfy an entitled 16yo rich girl though that's an interesting analogy @FriscoTXJoe makes about some MTC members

Luckily I don't need an immediate Maverick fix or would have bought something else.

 

[Old Ford Guy]

I think you need to look at this from Ford's perspective as well. When they designed this car they never anticipated the overwhelming popularity of this little truck. At the time of original design, gas prices were about half of what they are now, and they calculated demand for this truck based on those parameters. Because of cheap gas prices at that time, they calculated limited demand and assigned only a single factory to produce these. Ford was caught off guard by the sudden increase in gas prices, which threw a curve in their initial truck demand calculations. On top of that, throw in the Covid related economy slow-downs that hampered 3rd party parts suppliers. To Ford's credit, they refrained from significant price increases to lessen demand to shorter the wait times. They could have easily increased prices by $5,000-$8,000, to meet initial demand calculations, by actually lessening demand. So, the choice is clear, would you rather wait for your order, or pay $5,000-$8,000 more?

after some 40+ plus yrs in both car sales and manufacturing perhaps i can shed some light on this failure to satisfy demand for our beloved little truck. NO ONE can accurately predict demand for a vehicle you intend to offer for sale to the public in 4 years or so but are designing today. if you can there are a LOT of folks that want to pay you a whole gang of $$$. ford was not prepared at all for the phenomenal demand for Mav's. add to that that 4 or 5 yrs ago when they were signing contracts for the pieces/parts/components that will be needed for the upcoming build. as in if i project how many i will probaly sell and what percentage of said sales are Hybrid vs Eco? from what i've been told by folks that i believe know what they're talking about is Ford sourced parts for a 80/20% Eco/Hybrid mix skewed towards the lower trim levels and people are buying the higher end stuff & the Hybrid powertrain at almost unprecedented levels and thats hard to adjust on the fly after the fact but it is happening as we speak. Ford's other misscalculation was putting the Mav into a Plant that was already struggleing to meet demand for its current product, let. alone meet demand for another fire hot product. Ford is better than most with logistics and once they get a better read on customers preferences they will do better with order fufillment(i hope...) A determination was also made that the only way to produce this vehicle for the low price they intended to sell it for that it had to take advantage of the lower labor rate available south of the border (not nessaceraly true by the way IMHO). as a UAW retirreree i'am not thrilled about that last part and hope those folks down there will eventually achieve pay pairity so that we all dont lose in a no win race to the bottom (off the soapbox now). This is not intended as a apology for Ford's missteps, just a little peek into how they got caught so unprepared for this demand. how they could or should be handling customer communication is a subject for a whole other thread. suffice it to say they can and should do better.

 

[megapixle]

Yes, that's fine, there's lots of demand. SO DON'T TAKE WAY MORE ORDERS THAN YOU CAN PRODUCE. Shut down the order portal, then reopen it later if you have more capacity.

 

[megapixle]

Bro, you are swimming against a strong stream here at MTC. The overwhelming attitude seems to be somewhat similar to a newly 16 year old rich girl who hasn't gotten her new BMW yet.

This is the place to complain.

Good luck!

Since eyeroll is not an option for post reactions I'll react with an eyeroll response.

 

[Old Ford Guy]

Yes, that's fine, there's lots of demand. SO DON'T TAKE WAY MORE ORDERS THAN YOU CAN PRODUCE. Shut down the order portal, then reopen it later if you have more capacity.
[/QUOTagree 100% agree.the issue i see is that they accepted FAR, FAR more orders than they could fuflll. no matter what mix was orderded the plant can only make 'X' number of vehicles . i can understand taking several thousand more than your production run can produce but they went waaay past that and thats not cool. i dont blame folks for being upset at all.

 

[bgn]

So according to the comments here, Ford had no idea a truck starting at $19,995 was going to be popular? With a 40 mpg hybrid powertrain? While having the bestselling truck in America for longer than I've been alive?

And they had no idea how many units Hermosillo could produce?

Hmm.

The Maverick was my first new vehicle and first Ford. The lack of communication to customers AND dealers was nothing short of appalling. And I only waited 6 months.

 

[icegradner]

But isnt that exactly what they did when they closed the order bank? the issue i see is that they accepted FAR, FAR more orders than they could fuflll . i can understand taking a few thousand more than your production run an produce but they went waaay past that and thats not cool. i dont blame folks for being upset at all.

Some of the blame also falls on dealers who take more orders than they have allocations for. After all, every deposit they take from an order is money in the bank, even if they never buy the vehicle they order. Some people just forget and never get their money back, some get the ordered vehicle, and some cave and buy something else (a more expensive model if the dealer is lucky). Either way the dealer wins

 

[Old Hickory Trojan]

I'm sorry but I respectfully just do not agree with you defending Ford . A 1st grader would know if you make a Hybrid Pickup for 19,995 that it's is going to sale like mad get real . Also they had the same problem with the broncos over sold them just like the Mavericks and customers are waiting over a year plus for there vehicle and not getting it but Rolled Over to the next year It happened with the 22 Mavericks not enough production now it is going to happen with the 23 Mavericks not enough production but this year no price protection . Just have a TRUE CUT OFF NUMBER and do not take over that number of ORDERS It happened in 22 now in 23 Sorry I blame 100% They are smarter then that

No they are not smarter than that......

 

[Last Truck Ever]

Just have a TRUE CUT OFF NUMBER and do not take over that number of ORDERS It happened in 22 now in 23 Sorry I blame 100% They are smarter then that

And, if you end 23MY with 30k unbuilt hybrids, roll them over and come July just do NOT take new hybrid orders. Open up the hybrid orders bank later, if it looks like you'll catch up, but taking more orders with a 30k backlog is just insane.

Also, I disagree on the point that increased gas prices increased demand. Sure, it might have played some part, but hybrid just makes good sense whether gas is $2 a gallon or $4. It is attractive in its own right.

 

[Flub]

This is the first compact pickup in a decade in NA. They're fools if they didn't anticipate demand.

 

[B2000]

Ford did close the order window in September 2022 after a week. It looks like they will produce most or all of the ecoboost orders. It's hard to predict how many people who order might not complete the sale so maybe they took a few too many orders. On the hybrid some people say they would rather have been told Ford was "sold out" but I think a lot of people preferred to roll the dice and maybe get their truck. Again maybe a lot of people give up waiting and you get a truck after all.

No way Ford or any company is going to sell vehicles next year at last year's prices with costs going up. I'm surprised Ford did some of that this year but don't expect it again.

As Bronco Sport sales slowed down you could say that Ford should have shifted more resources to Maverick but they make more money on Bronco so I think they decided to make extra Bronco inventory.

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