WTF!!?? Is This True!!?? Ford to Ship Incomplete Builds.

[Muchmore]

So here in KC where F150's are made there are lots and lots FULL of F150's all over the city just waiting for parts. I think Ford has rented every available empty parking lot all over the city!

 

[caleb]

Apparently, this is the new normal.

Yep. Ford isn't alone in doing this either. I ordered a Porsche and when it arrived at the dealer, it was missing chips, couldn't even drive it. The dealer installed the missing chips when they arrived separately to complete the vehicle. They also are shipping vehicles with only a single key fob, they've then also issued a service bulletin that you have to go to the dealer and get your second key.

Not sure I understand why, but doing it this way it's allowing them to get vehicles into customers hands more quickly rather than waiting and doing the chip installs before shipping to dealers (I think it's something to do with Chips are made in plant A and vehicles in plant B and rather than shipping from A to B and then to the dealer, they just send A to dealer and B to dealer).

 

[rtmozingo]

What's the big deal? There are awesome deals to be had on new cars right now. I feel badly for those who have to purchase something for one reason or another. For those who are just buying to have the latest and greatest, I guess it must be worth it.

My wife's 2006 trailblazer just had the transmission go out. We were on the fence about fixing it up - tho we have loved the thing - but it didn't take long to see vehicles with 100k+ miles on them going for over $35k to make us feel a lot better about getting a new transmission put into it. The car market is almost as bad as the housing market right now.

 

[raptor556]

I would never take delivery of an incomplete car, ever. Unless I have no vehicle to borrow, rent or steal.

I'm with this guy

 

[Grayson]

Several solutions to this:

1. Ford should not announce or make any new models or trim levels regardless of status like planned, "in the works or ready for production.

2. Ford should cut off orders with little notice to dealers or public. Production schedulers should have the ability and software to calculate with a small deviation how many vehicles/trims they can produce based on current inventory of components until the back log of vehicles are completed. Yes this will cause massive profit loss but it's more viable in the short term than to continue as is hoping an external company can provide materials as contracted.

3. Ford should hire experienced IT and vehicle software engineers to solve the vehicle status information/overall production status along with a solution to integrate and reconfigure module systems to reduce the amount of processors, chips, molex connectors needed.

4. Ford should offer an exclusive contract (at a premium) to get the components they need in the short term to complete existing orders. This will also cause profit loss but if a product can't be sold then the business isn't sustainable; especially if the customer base disappears.

5. Most all of the above will help speed up the direct to consumer sales process that Ford wishes to implement. I have a neutral view of direct to consumer.

 

[98Craig]

I was just informed from dealer mine will ship with missing chips but he doesn't know exactly which ones, but will obviously be drivable. Once parts are available they will be fitted at zero cost. Yes, this solution sucks and I'm not happy about it. It is not unique though. Boat manufacturing doing the same thing. BMW and Mercedes, in my opinion, was worse. We had an order with BMW and found out the touch screen wouldn't be "touchable" and no cooled seats...EVER. We cancelled the order. Mercedes had an old school style speedometer setup because they were out of the new LCD style...didn't by that either. I'd rather have them install at a later date then not install at all. Wish they would have done the same with bluecruise.

 

[melvimbe]

While I wouldn't buy an incomplete vehicle, it's a win for most involved. Ford is happy to get these vehicles off lots. Dealers are happy to get some vehicles sold and visible on their lots. And many customers are happy to get their vehicle even if it's incomplete. Yes, there will certainly be some unhappy customers who refuse to accept an incomplete vehicle, but there are probably a few customers behind them that will take it.

As someone who isn't in the market at all, I like the idea that I might be able to go to the dealer and sit in, maybe test drive something to see what I might want to do when we are passed all this nonsense.

 

[Rick955]

If it were on hold just for the bedliner, which is speculated to be a significant pain point, assuming that were the only thing holding it up I'd be more than happy to just take it do that locally. Dealer said they would make it happen if the option were there... better for them too to get the sale completed! If the rumors are in any way true that the backlog for the liners are up to whatever high number of weeks, you would think Ford would be more than happy to push those along, or at least ask those waiting if they'd prefer to just take it without!

 

[Frogger22]

Simple, would you rather wait months for your truck or years?

Simple, I’d rather keep my money

 

[Kodyray72]

Simple, I’d rather keep my money