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The Last of the Microchips

First Ford Foray

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Hello to all outstanding orderies! A few things to pick your brains and see what you guys think. Recently announced the KC plant will be down for yet another week and the DB plant will be at a lower production. I've attached the article for reference. Now I am usually an optimistic but I am also a realist. So my thoughts/questions are below:
  1. Ford continues to promote building new/upcoming vehicles(lighting, Bronco, recently Ranger trim), but how do you think this will affect current orders/vehicles in terms of production?
  2. Follow-up to point 1, with Ford promising to build Lightnings(specifically) like crazy do you think Ford will shutter outstanding orders in favor of building newer high profit vehicles? AKA they will have '21 F-150 orders convert into '22. OR they will allocate resources towards the Lightning and continue to postpone gas F-150 trucks?
  3. I understand this past year, or 2 years, have been VERY rough but what are you thoughts on how Ford is handling the situation in terms of managing resources vs demand?
At this point in time I'm considering a RAM or the new Tundra(if it does release this year) because my order keeps getting pushed on and I can kinda see the storm ahead of having to wait another year because Ford (like any business) will funnel resources into higher profit items to maximize making money.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/09/01...up-production-again-due-to-chip-shortage.html
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discothan

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Most car manufacturers are suffering the same ordeal with chip shortages and other trickle down affects of the pandemic. Its not just microchips, its anything that is sourced, fabricated and installed in any car. I do wish you the best of luck with whatever truck you go with.
 

Madeinchina

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Ford is in a similar situation as every other auto maker where they cannot marketing and generating hype for new products. Its better to hog the spotlight and fail to live up to promises than to be eclipsed by a competitor and still fail to live up to promises.

For example I don't see how Toyota will be able to satisfy 2022 Tundra demand considering how hard they're chopping 2021 production right now. Their new Rav4 Primes are seeing worse availability than any other production vehicle right now.

Its hard to say whether its more advantageous for ford to focus on high trim / high margin models without having more detail in their supply chain. While a raptor or a platinum may have a higher margin, they also take more semi conductors to build. At a certain point it becomes more beneficial to build and sell 2 or more lower margin vehicles than to build 1 higher margin vehicles you know?
 

dhrandy

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1. Of course they will promote, but the F-150 is still there best selling vehicle. We've seen it scheduled more when the Bronco and others have been shut down.

2. See number 1, F-150 is there best selling vehicle. They will continue to make them a priority. They may have a lot of people that have deposits on the Lightning, but those people haven't see the price list yet or been confirmed for orders. They could get pushed too ;)

3. I think Ford is doing just as good as everyone else with their best selling truck. You can blame Toyota for this one. They are the ones that started this whole issue with Kaizen and the whole lean manufacturing. So manufactures try not to hold a lot of parts inventory to save money. They try to keep the parts coming in just before they are built. They didn't predict the whole COVID thing. Here's a good video.



Ram has had shutdowns too. Be careful if you decide to order a RAM, checkout this article.

2022 Ram 1500 Production Streamlined To Avoid Chip-Related Delays (musclecarsandtrucks.com)

I also be they'll have issues with the Toyotas if they are popular enough, right now the full size truck doesn't sell near as many as Ford. I chose 2019 stats since COVID messed up the numbers.

Ford F-150 The Last of the Microchips 1630541528678

Top 5 Best Selling Pickup Trucks of 2019 | Web2Carz
 

wayfarer556

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This chip shortage is affecting everyone, including Toyota. If you can't find it on the lot, you're going to wait a while for a custom order.
 

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dhrandy

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Most car manufacturers are suffering the same ordeal with chip shortages and other trickle down affects of the pandemic. Its not just microchips, its anything that is sourced, fabricated and installed in any car. I do wish you the best of luck with whatever truck you go with.
Yep, I work for an outdoor power equipment manufacture (I'm in R&D) and our factory is shutdown for 2 weeks. Has nothing to do with microchips.
 

ib_jigged

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Yep, I work for an outdoor power equipment manufacture (I'm in R&D) and our factory is shutdown for 2 weeks. Has nothing to do with microchips.
I work for a powersports manufacturer (engineering) and we are under the same issue along with no one willing to work these days. It really is a struggle for all!

I still really want my truck though!
 

n8dgr8

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To your question, will they convert 2021 orders to 2022? I think they should, but I suspect they don't have the process or IT in place to do so. Many 2021 orders will find themselves at the back of the 2022 line unless Ford does something smart with priority codes. I think it is chaos at Ford and everywhere else and they just don't know how to manage this mess. I think it is also possible 2022 could be even worse than 2021 for chip shortages. It might not be until 2024 that things actually get better. I suspect that Toyota is going to direct all of its chips to the Tundra just to kick Ram, Chevy, and Ford while there are down as a marketing stunt.
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