Back to the drawing board?

[Parappa The Rapta]

I drive a lot.. like 55k in 2 years on my 19 so I'm eager to buy a new truck. With that said, I dont think I've ever seen a manufacturer go so radio silent after a reveal. Does anyone else think they saw/read the reactions and thought "maybe we need to rethink this" granted the body is locked in but the output may not be.

I've just been waiting for numbers for the power train forever and still nothing... seems poorly executed.

 

[gobluejd]

I drive a lot.. like 55k in 2 years on my 19 so I'm eager to buy a new truck. With that said, I dont think I've ever seen a manufacturer go so radio silent after a reveal. Does anyone else think they saw/read the reactions and thought "maybe we need to rethink this" granted the body is locked in but the output may not be.

I've just been waiting for numbers for the power train forever and still nothing... seems poorly executed.

They said coming summer 2021. They have put them in a few public places. They are not rethinking anything.

 

[Raptor R]

We are all waiting. I don’t think anything has been “back to the drawing board”. They certainly are taking their time though. From what we are hearing, it will be August before we can put orders in even. I think the hold up is the shortage of parts, building them.

 

[Chainsaw]

I think there are multiple factors in play, and it would not surprise me if the truck is delayed for a significant amount of time.

I guarantee that there are hard conversations going on at high levels within Ford. The TRX was so well-received that all margin for error in the Gen3 Raptor is gone.

Too late for a redesign, but not too late to delay and add more technology, make minor cosmetic tweaks, rethink packages, etc.

The chip shortage is a problem, but also gives a plausible cover to delay.

With the original timeline already stetching so far into 2021, my personal feeling is a delay into fall, with a release as a 2022.

I also would not be surprised to see a simultaneous base/R release, if that were the case.

 

[Parappa The Rapta]

That's more or less what I was thinking. I'm aware these trucks are spotted all over the place all the time but with the current power train there are tons of things that can be done to eek a little more power out, which in turn requires testing.

I'm also curious about Fords upcoming release of their Blue Autopilot for the 21 f150s, I'm curious if that was pushed up and will delay the 3rd gens.

 

[GordoJay]

It seems to me like Ford planned a late 21 release as MY2022 and then some marketing genius panicked when the TRX actually shipped and got good reviews. So they rushed out an 'intro' to keep people waiting instead of jumping ship. The idea being that you just pull manufacturing forward a few months and boom, MY2021 Raptor. Pulling manufacturing forward is hard at the best of times, but during a chip shortage and parts shortages and labor shortage(covid) and during the introduction of a brand new model Bronco, it's got to be near impossible. Here are the indicators on which I base my theory. The intro was lame. The advertising program to build excitement is nonexistent. That order banks aren't open now for mid summer delivery makes it look like they're going to trickle a few out to the dealers to 'make shipments', but real availability will be late 2021. We'll see. I've been wrong before, specifically that there would be no MY2021 Raptor. But since we're all guessing, I have to throw mine out there.

 

[gobluejd]

Lot's of speculation going on here. However I can tell you that Ford simply does not introduce a vehicle and not have all the options laid out ahead of time. Their vehicles are a fine tuned process in manufacturing, marketing and materials and all of this is decided way in advance. It is not like they introduce and then start thinking of stuff months prior to a release. The only thing would be a month or so delay due to chip shortage. The shortage is causing issues for all manufacturers. Ford is throttling back a bit, but in no means is production of F150's stopping. In fact, there is now no summer scheduled shut down.

 

[K223]

I was thinking, and yes that can be dangerous in itself. So we had the reveal, some engineer interviews and some public announcements via Twitter about the Gen 3. Ok I get it, Ford has never had to do much advertising for the Raptor. People know of it and it’s word of mouth and enthusiast publications will help to promote the truck.

But why is it taking so long to reveal basic power specs and some other powertrain details? It’s a performance vehicle and Ford knows people are interested in the numbers.

Will the numbers stay basically the same and no rush to reveal that? Will the base Gen 3’s numbers surprise and make people go wow? Hard to believe Ford is still in the engine lab at this point tweaking.

All other things mentioned between Covid and chip shortages have to be having an affect. Dealers lots have no trucks, so it’s not full steam ahead unless they are stock piling vehicles at the rail yards for some reason. Or they are building them and waiting on modules to come later and then added. Can’t see a production line taking a turn like this.

Anyway some numbers regarding the truck would be nice to see. I know numbers were held back regarding the Gen 14 F-150 for some time as well after it’s release.

 

[GordoJay]

Will the numbers stay basically the same and no rush to reveal that? Will the base Gen 3’s numbers surprise and make people go wow?

I think if it was 'Wow', they'd be out there to build excitement. Putting them out when they're basically the same would reduce excitement. If I were betting, I'd take the modest bump bet vs the surprise.

 

[gobluejd]

It seems to me like Ford planned a late 21 release as MY2022 and then some marketing genius panicked when the TRX actually shipped and got good reviews. So they rushed out an 'intro' to keep people waiting instead of jumping ship. The idea being that you just pull manufacturing forward a few months and boom, MY2021 Raptor. Pulling manufacturing forward is hard at the best of times, but during a chip shortage and parts shortages and labor shortage(covid) and during the introduction of a brand new model Bronco, it's got to be near impossible. Here are the indicators on which I base my theory. The intro was lame. The advertising program to build excitement is nonexistent. That order banks aren't open now for mid summer delivery makes it look like they're going to trickle a few out to the dealers to 'make shipments', but real availability will be late 2021. We'll see. I've been wrong before, specifically that there would be no MY2021 Raptor. But since we're all guessing, I have to throw mine out there.

The introduction of the Bronco is really non-existent in terms of the Raptor. Completely different factory. Each factory has suppliers and lead times are already scheduled at least 6 months in advance for parts provided for that vehicle and model year. Bids for the Raptor parts supplier (Tier Partners) were awarded last summer, during covid. Again chips are a different story, but not stopping production.