Thoughts on the reservation system

[martyb]

The problem with cutting out the allocation is Gov’t fuel economy requirements. Without allocation, everyone would order the high-end product (that are typically relative gas guzzlers). Allocation is the tool manufacturers have to force dealers to order and sell high efficiency/cheaper vehicles that balance out the EPA averages in order to get the vehicles they really want to sell.

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[walleethewhale]

The reservation system is great when they abide by the rules. This is not a reservation system. This went from being a reservation system to being an allocation system with a technicality. I have been through the reservation system with Tesla. Have to say theirs is leagues better. Not even minor vs major... Im talking about jv high school vs the major leagues

 

[shieldsy]

My sense is that Ford's goal with Bronco reservation system was to create marketing bragging rights rather than a system for the scheduling and dissemination of vehicles.

Their 'timestamp' concept created dealer conflicts that could have been foreseen - even by girl scouts running a lemonade stand.

If you're going to take custom 'orders', you gotta have the components on hand to deliver. Again, basic business issues that even neighborhood restaurants have figured out.

I am not sure that Ford ever wanted to create a reservation system that was different or disruptive. The name 'reservation system' was just the lure.

It appears that Ford wanted to create a new, early identification sales funnel and capture contact and demographic information from people very interested in buying one of their vehicles so they could preform centralized, targeted marketing on.

They also wanted to glean early product information on what their potential customers were ready and wanting to order.

Limiting reservations or charging more to create a reservation would be a barrier to those stated goals. They want more data not less!

These new sales tactics have come at the really high cost of disenfranchising the very customers that you are trying to attract.

There is a limit to how much you can lie without receiving major blowback. Even on a halo product.

 

[Easy-v]

The problem with cutting out the allocation is Gov’t fuel economy requirements. Without allocation, everyone would order the high-end product (that are typically relative gas guzzlers). Allocation is the tool manufacturers have to force dealers to order and sell high efficiency/cheaper vehicles that balance out the EPA averages in order to get the vehicles they really want to sell.

I thought about this aspect - but couldn't clearly communicate the thought as well as you have- so i didn't put that into the original post. This could potentially be a limiter on production too....

 

[GoTigersGoBronco]

The Mach E reservation system has worked a lot better than the Bronco. The Mach E/Lightning models are only allocated to dealers who made the investments to sell and service them.

I’m somewhat inclined to say that Bronco should only be sold through “Bronco Certified” dealers that abide by certain rules and make certain investments.

 

[dingle87]

I believe the 15k rumor has been discredited by the road show staff. But the number won't be high in 2022, Ford will struggle with battery production for a bit as SK gets up and running

but yes the vast majority of reservation holders won't see a Lightning in 2022 and maybe even 2023. I have my Lightning reservation through Tom @ Chapman and I have a pretty low reservation number so I'm cautiously optimistic I'm towards the front of the line and get one in 2022

I'm in the same situation as you. I think (if my memory is still ok) I'm well within the first 25,000 reservations. I remember reserving, then the next day they reported that they achieved 25,000 reservations. So... I believe I'm under 25,000, but who the hell knows at this point. LOL

 

[Daktari]

build the allocations into the reservation system, so when you go make a reservation and want to be with dealer A but they are full for the model year, system shows you other dealers in your area to choose from - or switch to the next model year. Would make it way more complex than it is, but the customer wouldn't be so in the dark and some dealers could not pile up way more orders than they can expect to get allocated. Noone would reserve with a dealer if they knew it's a 3+ year wait, no matter the savings.
Allocations aren't going away, I'm sure it's part of the franchise bylaws and regulations that Ford has to distribute what they make in a somewhat fair and even matter over the 3000+ dealers in the US (and probably same for all over the world).

Also limiting by model year, though that's not easy either, Ford probably expected to build more Boncos than they could this year, world wide supply issues and issues with the MIC top were not something they could plan for either.

 

[Carolina Jim]

These new sales tactics have come at the really high cost of disenfranchising the very customers that you are trying to attract.

There is a limit to how much you can lie without receiving major blowback. Even on a halo product.

Amen to that! AND, the folks they disenfranchised were their most ardent Bronco enthusiasts. This rat's nest of problems was easily foreseeable; Ford is wise to communicate as little as possible, because every time they open their mouth they put a foot into it.

 

[Easy-v]

I was told I could move my reservation?

I'm just waiting... I am not patiently waiting at all, but waiting.

 

[indio22]

I believe the 15k rumor has been discredited by the road show staff. But the number won't be high in 2022, Ford will struggle with battery production for a bit as SK gets up and running

but yes the vast majority of reservation holders won't see a Lightning in 2022 and maybe even 2023. I have my Lightning reservation through Tom @ Chapman and I have a pretty low reservation number so I'm cautiously optimistic I'm towards the front of the line and get one in 2022

Man, you are a gluten for punishment. Hopefully you didn't also reserve a Maverick, else you could be going for a disappointment hat trick! Hope it works out for you though, at least the presentation video for the Lighting was slick, got me thinking about it.

 

[UberGadgetFreak]

There are a lot of things Ford could do going forward to alleviate a lot of the issues and still stick to allocation controls, have a better reservation-to-delivery process in place, have a little more control in making dealerships disclose all pricing, and even mitigate fake reservations all to appeal to more customers. I could go into a lot of ways I would 'fix' the system such as capping how many reservations can be converted to orders at any given time, ensuring complete disclosure and guarantee of final pricing to convert reservation to order, mitigating fake reservations in 3 ways to minimize them, and a few other things that would take forever to explain in detail, but a few process changes could fix up a lot of problems before they switch to a true JIT model.

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