- First Name
- Matthew
- Joined
- Jul 29, 2020
- Threads
- 43
- Messages
- 2,692
- Reaction score
- 8,385
- Location
- Northville, MI
- Vehicle(s)
- 2021 Badlands Bronco
- Your Bronco Model
- Badlands
I know several people in the automative business, both supplier and manufacturer sides. Everything is JIT and every contract is specified and laid out in advance of production (and usually over multiple years with a declining price as the development costs are spread over the life of a model. For instance, a sun roof manufacturer may make roofs for 5 or 6 vehicles and 3 different manufacturers. They bid, negotiate and get a contract to deliver x units at y price on z date. They build in their capacity and pricing to fit the build cycle and volume estimated by the manufacturer. It would be very difficult to get suppliers to bid on unknown volume and unknown capacity on contingency of another supplier failing. Some parts may be able to be substituted or sourced from a different factory, but it would be very difficult to maintain pricing even if you could get capacity. I assume (maybe wrong) that these pictures are from a supplier testing an "accessory top" for Ford to offer and potentially they have a contract for eventual aftermarket sales as well? I am sure everyone is behind due to the Bronco delays, including the accessory suppliers.In the Army we had to make what we called "contingency plans". If plan A doesn't work, go to plan B, then C and so forth. Ford clearly failed to have contingency plans, which should have been obvious to them that they needed to do so with the pandemic and all. They should have had multiple MIC top makers lined up should the first not be able to meet demand, multiple microchip manufacturers lined up and so forth. You get what I'm saying. When you tell a supplier that they will meet demand or they will be replaced with someone who can, companies tend to pull out the stops to make things work.
With that being said, I hope and pray your dealer is wrong or perhaps misunderstood what was told to them. If it is true, we shouldn't be surprised as this has been the "New Normal" lol with this launch.
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