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kwon

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If I am Fords CEO, I have ReMax on speed dial.

The Covid excuse is worn out.
Seeing a lot of posts like this. Research the chip shortage and think about e how you would have reacted at the beginning of 2021. Coming out of 2020 and not knowing what state requirements would be in effect regarding businesses and dealerships... Any good CEO would have gone to their supply chain and told them to expect fewer orders in 2021. I don't think anyone was expecting car sales, of all things, to explode this year.

Edit to add: F-Series trucks are up 10% this quarter over last, meaning, Ford likely had way more inventory than even they thought necessary but demand way outpaced their aggressive forecasts.
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65mustang

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Shoot ... Truckless Tree fell on my 2018 in Nov., ordered new one Dec. 3, scheduled production WAS April 23rd. This is really hurtin' news. Oh well, what can a guy do? More beer.
 

CommoSGT

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Seeing a lot of posts like this. Research the chip shortage and think about e how you would have reacted at the beginning of 2021. Coming out of 2020 and not knowing what state requirements would be in effect regarding businesses and dealerships... Any good CEO would have gone to their supply chain and told them to expect fewer orders in 2021. I don't think anyone was expecting car sales, of all things, to explode this year.
Now see, there you go messing everything up. How dare you look at this with sober thought and logical reasoning. Why can't you be emotionally devastated like the rest of us. Some people!! </humor>
 

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boo radley

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ed
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Seeing a lot of posts like this. Research the chip shortage and think about e how you would have reacted at the beginning of 2021. Coming out of 2020 and not knowing what state requirements would be in effect regarding businesses and dealerships... Any good CEO would have gone to their supply chain and told them to expect fewer orders in 2021. I don't think anyone was expecting car sales, of all things, to explode this year.
Tell that to dealers who normally sell 20 F150s a month and have 7 sitting on the lot.

You were not anticipating a booming F150 market with a total redesigned truck? Well I was. Excuses dont cut it in the real world and I sincerely doubt that investors are dancing on the roof. Ford was going to build hundreds of thousands of 2021 F150s and didnt have the parts lined up. Ridiculous.

Edit to add: F-Series trucks are up 10% this quarter over last, meaning, Ford likely had way more inventory than even they thought necessary but demand way outpaced their aggressive forecasts.
The F150 is Fords best selling product. Ford could have blown sales out of the water if there was inventory. I want to buy a Super Cab, but cant because Ford is not building any other than with an engine that I dont want. Searching for a truck over the last 3 months, I have spoken to sales people at dealerships across the country and they all say the exact same thing. They are frustrated at the lack of F150 inventory. Not the absence of potential buyers.
 

Maggioa

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towingnp

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Seeing a lot of posts like this. Research the chip shortage and think about e how you would have reacted at the beginning of 2021. Coming out of 2020 and not knowing what state requirements would be in effect regarding businesses and dealerships... Any good CEO would have gone to their supply chain and told them to expect fewer orders in 2021. I don't think anyone was expecting car sales, of all things, to explode this year.

Edit to add: F-Series trucks are up 10% this quarter over last, meaning, Ford likely had way more inventory than even they thought necessary but demand way outpaced their aggressive forecasts.
I completely agree. These are challenging times for sure and I can't pretend to say I'd do a better job then they are. That being said, I struggle with the extent of the impact. Even if you expect a slump, you're the leader in that category and a dominant player in the industry, don't you stock parts for when demand picks up or have the ability to get prioritized by suppliers? I can totally wrap my head around plant closures for health reasons, shipping woes and the delays that come from that, but not having parts for trucks that you know are gonna get sold sooner or later? I suspect that the real culprit is the 'just in time' management of parts inventory. There's no or little stock on site to keep costs down but if there's a snag somewhere in the chain, you've got no buffer. No expert here. Just my 2 cents.
 
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Merccat

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Tell that to dealers who normally sell 20 F150s a month and have 7 sitting on the lot.

You were not anticipating a booming F150 market with a total redesigned truck? Well I was. Excuses dont cut it in the real world and I sincerely doubt that investors are dancing on the roof. Ford was going to build hundreds of thousands of 2021 F150s and didnt have the parts lined up. Ridiculous.



The F150 is Fords best selling product. Ford could have blown sales out of the water if there was inventory. I want to buy a Super Cab, but cant because Ford is not building any other than with an engine that I dont want. Searching for a truck over the last 3 months, I have spoken to sales people at dealerships across the country and they all say the exact same thing. They are frustrated at the lack of F150 inventory. Not the absence of potential buyers.
Supercab’s are unicorns around here, especially in a higher trim such as Lariat. Every dealership within 100 miles ONLY has 4x4 Crew Cabs.
I only ordered a week ago, hopefully it will arrive by July.
 

Madman

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Tell that to dealers who normally sell 20 F150s a month and have 7 sitting on the lot.

You were not anticipating a booming F150 market with a total redesigned truck? Well I was. Excuses dont cut it in the real world and I sincerely doubt that investors are dancing on the roof. Ford was going to build hundreds of thousands of 2021 F150s and didnt have the parts lined up. Ridiculous.


The F150 is Fords best selling product. Ford could have blown sales out of the water if there was inventory. I want to buy a Super Cab, but cant because Ford is not building any other than with an engine that I dont want. Searching for a truck over the last 3 months, I have spoken to sales people at dealerships across the country and they all say the exact same thing. They are frustrated at the lack of F150 inventory. Not the absence of potential buyers.
I think that's fair, @boo radley. The damned Pandemic is to blame here, much more than Ford (notable exception: Rust issue, but that's another thread).

I have an anecdote on this topic from the weekend I'd like to share -

On Saturday, I brought my mother's Escape to the dealership for an oil change/rotation and decided to wait. They had a fully loaded (and rustless) Lariat in the showroom (and 3 other GEN14's on the lot), so I poked around while waiting.

I'd been to the dealership only twice before - to place my order on Jan 2nd. As I was poking around, the Manager (whom I'd only met once) came up to me to say hello. Even through the mask, he recognized my face and asked - you were the one who bought the SQ Platinum Powerboost with the Work Surface and Retractable tonneau. Its 'Kevin', right? I'm sorry that you haven't been able to get your truck but we keep checking."

He waved me to his desk and said "Lets take a look at the status ... it still shows 4/5 build week". Looking up, he added "but there's been a shutdown in Dearborn, so we don't really know when it will come in." He seemed more frustrated than me! (Scanning my order) "Oh - you got the best build - that Platinum Powerboost is just amazing!"

I thanked him for checking on the status, as I was active on this Forum. I knew where things stood. I added that I was still exceited it was coming this spring, even though I'd never had a chance to actually test drive one - I'd ordered it with the Special Black interior, sight unseen. "What?" he asked. "Here, take mine and go for a ride - I have had the same truck (different exterior color) for a couple of months and I absolutely love it! It even has the same interior and tonneau cover as yours. Just take it - here!" He tossed me his keys and wouldn't take no for an answer.

I understand that he's a salesman but his dealership had already closed that sale months ago. I wasn't some complaining customer - as I didn't even bring it up at all. He was just being human and making his customer happy, unsolicited. A kind gesture, I thought. Who am I to say 'no' and possibly offend him? ;-)

The PowerBoost and the interior blew me away - far more than the EcoBoost I remembered from 3 months earlier. I told him exactly that, as soon as I returned. We got to chatting about the trucks and the parts shortage and its been killing him that he can't get trucks. Fortunately, sales of Explorers and the Bronco SE have been keeping them profitable.

Stay positive, folks. These are amazing and versatile trucks and we will all be getting them soon!
 

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towingnp

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I think that's fair, @boo radley. I understand that he's a salesman but his dealership had already closed that sale months ago. I wasn't some complaining customer - as I didn't even bring it up at all. He was just being human and making his customer happy, unsolicited. A kind gesture, I thought.
That's a great dealer. Thanks for sharing the experience.

I do feel for these guys. Must be tough to manage a business and keep clients happy with so many unknowns.
 

kwon

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Tell that to dealers who normally sell 20 F150s a month and have 7 sitting on the lot.

You were not anticipating a booming F150 market with a total redesigned truck? Well I was. Excuses dont cut it in the real world and I sincerely doubt that investors are dancing on the roof. Ford was going to build hundreds of thousands of 2021 F150s and didnt have the parts lined up. Ridiculous.

The F150 is Fords best selling product. Ford could have blown sales out of the water if there was inventory. I want to buy a Super Cab, but cant because Ford is not building any other than with an engine that I dont want. Searching for a truck over the last 3 months, I have spoken to sales people at dealerships across the country and they all say the exact same thing. They are frustrated at the lack of F150 inventory. Not the absence of potential buyers.
We could sit here and talk about our market speculation forever, that's essentially all wall street does is speculate. What you're talking about here are the current problems dealers/Ford are facing 'due to' the uptick in demand. What I'm arguing is that Ford anticipated a spike for the new model year, hence the ability to outpace sales by 10%, but they did not anticipate the pent-up demand and the effect of stimulus packages, etc. I see this first-hand every day at work. We are just now getting a grip on supply and we started to ramp up in April of last year. It takes time and the port and shipping delays are absolutely horrendous and not helping the problem. Shipping overseas is delayed by at least 45 days in additional transit time. I'm not just talking about the Suez canal either; transit delays have been a problem since Q3 last year for whatever reason.

I completely agree. These are challenging times for sure and I can't pretend to say I'd do a better job then they are. That being said, I struggle with the extent of the impact. Even if you expect a slump, you're the leader in that category and a dominant player in the industry, don't you stock parts for when demand picks up or have the ability to get prioritized by suppliers? I can totally wrap my head around plant closures for health reasons, shipping woes, and the delays that come from that, but not having parts for trucks that you know are gonna get sold sooner or later? I suspect that the real culprit is the 'just in time' management of parts inventory. There's no or little stock on-site to keep costs down but if there's a snag somewhere in the chain, you've got no buffer. No expert here. Just my 2 cents.
I generally agree with this. JIT problems are exacerbated when it's a supply + in-transit delay. The beauty in JIT is not having to carry inventory and lock cash into a physical product. So, yes, in this unique COVID situation, JIT really fked a lot of people over.

I'm not some Ford fanboy who's offended by the brand hate. I agree with the woes and truly feel for everyone waiting on a truck. It's easy for me to say all of this while I get to drive home in my truck every day. I guess I sympathize with Ford as I feel their pain daily at my own job. I wish I could solve the inventory problem and get the product out to buying customers but am limited by quite a few factors out of my control.
 

JoeBlowFord

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We could sit here and talk about our market speculation forever, that's essentially all wall street does is speculate. What you're talking about here are the current problems dealers/Ford are facing 'due to' the ...
And there are also several other factors at play. Sanctions on Chinese telecommunications companies in 2019 caused massive buyups of semiconductors almost 2 years ago, putting a hurt on global supply. With the downturn in auto sales a year ago, chip manufactures moved away from making lower profit auto chips and changed lines over to higher profit chips in consumer electronics.

Add to that a fire at an auto chip plant in Japan that now is saying it'll take 4 months to come back online, and the recent plant problems in Texas due to weather. Nearly 70% of global auto chips are supplied by one company. Auto manufacturers are not in a good place right now.

The only thing Ford could have really done differently would have been to hedge back in 2019, and bought up a supply of chips then, but who would have ever recommended that?

This problem isn't about not expecting a booming market for a new truck model, or not having enough inventory on hand, it's almost entirely global supply. Pretty hard to pin that on Ford.
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