Top Management Disconnected From Consumers

[2021badlands bronco bob]

Not really trying to make a point as much as curious.

How many broncos are sitting in a lot as part of the bad batch?
How many folks know their bronco is sitting in a lot?

Wondering if it is a small percentage or large percentage.

Only Ford could tell us. There’s a real irony to that.

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[Coldsmoke]

This is all very interesting. I hear a lot of frustration and anger, but honestly... no real suggestions on a viable solution.

I 100% agree there's an opportunity for improved communications from Ford, there always will be... however I think it is a very spot for Ford. Like Mustang this is an enthusiast vehicle with a very passionate fan base... so part of me believes no level of communication will suffice.... additionally, regardless of what the messaging is the same enthusiast fan base will never be happy until the vehicle is in their hands.

With the communications so far, it has already been said without being said blatantly... demand far exceed expectations, Covid f*d up part of the supply chain, chip shortages could be an issue, Ford chose the wrong roof vendor, and Ford is spending time and money trying to fix Webasto and their issues.

So I wrestle with, what do I want to hear and how is it going to help me get my Bronco faster?

If I am being honest, at this point the only communication I want to hear is "You are scheduled for XXXX date."

I understand the issues Ford is dealing with and won't say they did everything perfectly... because no OEM does everything perfectly in a launch... but given the shit show of the world the last 18 months... is any of this surprising? To me no.

I do truly believe the Ford execs and Jim Farley care about the customers and are doing what they can to fix the issue. They are not magical wizards who can wave a wand and instantaneously fix the problem.

I will continue to do my best to look at the positives of the situation and see the progress being made instead of always bitching and moaning and looking at the negative while I anxiously await my communication saying "You are scheduled to be built!"

Oh... lastly... outside of a blatant mea culpa of "We f*d up sorry... doing our best to fix it."... and a part from the Ford Points and swag already given...

What tangible/actionaable thing do you think Ford can do to get our Broncos to us faster?

Personally, I don’t want Ford to hurt themselves to get my Bronco delivered half baked. I just want to know when they realistically think that delivery will be. My Bronco was “built” on 6/28 and then disappeared. I had no real expectation of when I would get it until I got their email which said, “it’s being built and this can take a few days”. So, now 6wks later with not so much as a word, the excitement of “the build” has turned to, “Ford can’t manage their way out of a paper bag”.
I feel it’s totally reasonable to expect some kind of follow up communication that says, “Ooops, we screwed up and need to reschedule your delivery. Expect more details by xxxx.”

 

[boxwood]

Only Ford could tell us. There’s a real irony to that.

Video was taken this morning. Credit to Mike Webb.

This def makes me think there are a lot of folks who don't know that their bronco is sitting around. and ford probably thinks keeping it that way is better than giving up some details to those who do know and in turn pissing off all the people who were blissfully ignorant and just thought they were waiting like anyone else.

If this video started getting picked up by major news outlets....Bam

 

[Username_not_found]

You are correct. Institutional investors hold between 49-52% of total shares outstanding. Even if every Bronco order holder held 1,000 shares it would not be even a minuscule percentage of outstanding shares. I am an order holder and have 0 shares of Ford stock.

I think the mistake here is to think that the negative impact of this would be from upset reservation holders. The Bronco is Ford's biggest new vehicle launch in decades and all these QC issues and failure to deliver can call into question Ford's ability to grow sales with new models (Mach-e, Bronco, Maverick) if they can't launch clean. Equally important is Ford shifting strategy away from packed dealer lots and towards make to order. If Ford can't make that process smooth and efficient (your average new car buyer has zero desire to wait for months for their vehicle) it's going to make investors question their ability to execute on their long-term business strategies. Ford doesn't need to ensure every single reservation holder is happy, but they need to ensure investors don't start to doubt them and the more of a debacle this launch becomes the more noticeable it's going to be.

 

[Username_not_found]

So in the years of planning and R&D, Ford only took one bid for top manufacturers? Seems like arguably one of the largest launches in the companies history that they would have had major component vendors that were competent and capable of making enough tops to get a launch started. Making 40 a day is laughable. Obviously making 150,000 in a year was probably far fetched but it seems like Webasto was totally caught off guard by making minimum numbers. I also put blame on Ford for this. It is their name on the vehicle. Their reputation. Not Webasto. Ford chose Webasto over others. They should take ownership of every aspect of the project. I have been a Ford loyalist for decades also but this is pitiful.

Most people here seem to be content to put the blame squarely on Webasto for this hard-top mess (and why wouldn't they, in the only email from Ford with any actual information they put the blame on Webasto), but Ford is responsible for the design specs, Ford qualified Webasto, Ford chose single source of supply, Ford determined the balance between cost and performance, Ford is ultimately responsible. Whether they made a top that couldn't be manufactured properly due to design, or cut costs too much, or just under estimated volume they still hold some level of culpability in this. It shouldn't be allowed to get to MP ramp before you realize, "oh shit, our one supplier that WE qualified to make Our hardtop is failing to do so".

 

[Efthreeoh]

I was going to build my own Bronco, but considering the capital investment needed to buy all the tooling and machinery to build it, plus all the metals, plastics, rubber, and, glass, I left it to a big, multinational company to do it for me.

Shorter wait time too.

 

[boxwood]

I think the mistake here is to think that the negative impact of this would be from upset reservation holders. The Bronco is Ford's biggest new vehicle launch in decades and all these QC issues and failure to deliver can call into question Ford's ability to grow sales with new models (Mach-e, Bronco, Maverick) if they can't launch clean. Equally important is Ford shifting strategy away from packed dealer lots and towards make to order. If Ford can't make that process smooth and efficient (your average new car buyer has zero desire to wait for months for their vehicle) it's going to make investors question their ability to execute on their long-term business strategies. Ford doesn't need to ensure every single reservation holder is happy, but they need to ensure investors don't start to doubt them and the more of a debacle this launch becomes the more noticeable it's going to be.

True, but Investors have to see the impact of the production issues and make that judgement. If many industries and other manufacturers are experiencing similar issues over the last year, they are less likely to notice or change their outlook comparatively. And its possible the vast majority of buyer's and consumers are just like "Whelp that's just the times we are living in".

At what point is it noticeably enough? I dunno, but i suspect it is a lot farther than it used to be.

 

[Username_not_found]

True, but Investors have to see the impact of the production issues and make that judgement. If many industries and other manufacturers are experiencing similar issues over the last year, they are less likely to notice or change their outlook comparatively. And its possible the vast majority of buyer's and consumers are just like "Whelp that's just the times we are living in".

At what point is it noticeably enough? I dunno, but i suspect it is a lot farther than it used to be.

I do not disagree. I think it will take more than where we are currently at to push this into a realm where it could have a noticeable negative impact on Ford's share prices; however, with the number of Broncos piling up at MAP, QC issues becoming more and more numerous, no clear hard-top resolution, the 2021 MY quickly approaching end of production with numbers massively below expected, the number of issues for Ford to resolve and the grace period to do so are dwindling. If they don't start seriously righting this ship those impacts will start being felt, but (in my own uneducated opinion) I don't see that really happening until December 21/January 22 with no improvements in place.

 

[West1]

I think the mistake here is to think that the negative impact of this would be from upset reservation holders. The Bronco is Ford's biggest new vehicle launch in decades and all these QC issues and failure to deliver can call into question Ford's ability to grow sales with new models (Mach-e, Bronco, Maverick) if they can't launch clean. Equally important is Ford shifting strategy away from packed dealer lots and towards make to order. If Ford can't make that process smooth and efficient (your average new car buyer has zero desire to wait for months for their vehicle) it's going to make investors question their ability to execute on their long-term business strategies. Ford doesn't need to ensure every single reservation holder is happy, but they need to ensure investors don't start to doubt them and the more of a debacle this launch becomes the more noticeable it's going to be.

I think you made some good points, assuming of course the blowback from order holders is sufficient and severe enough to grab the market makers attention.

 

[BroncoDymond88]

I still to this day hold that Ford should have built the 7500 FE first run down the line with all of the dealer mannequins and we should’ve been the first ones with these things driving them. I know it seems unfair to those that didn’t get them but there is literally nothing exclusive about the first edition besides a stripe down the side. The exclusivity should’ve been being the first one in your area period to have the truck.

Unless they made the #badbatchbroncos first to test out the new tops and worked out all the kinks on those so the FE's will be pristine?

 

[Suke996]

Ford accounting Mark's a vehicle as sold (for profit) the second it is printed with a Vin #. If it sits in a holding lot awaiting parts or delivery, doesn't matter to the top brass. They report to the shareholders that everything is perfectly fine, just like the orchestra playing on the Titanic deck as its sinking.

 

[EA First Edition]

Unless they made the #badbatchbroncos first to test out the new tops and worked out all the kinks on those so the FE's will be pristine?

They were still building FEs hence how i have a bad batch FE sitting for 50 days

 

[West1]

Ford accounting Mark's a vehicle as sold (for profit) the second it is printed with a Vin #. If it sits in a holding lot awaiting parts or delivery, doesn't matter to the top brass. They report to the shareholders that everything is perfectly fine, just like the orchestra playing on the Titanic deck as its sinking.

I assumed that there was a point where the sale of a unit (car) was "booked" I just had no idea what it was. Booking a sale when the VIN is produced does not account for manufactured but unordered inventory, (like in the old days Ford having a surplus of Pintos or Mavericks the dealers did not want). However, I am admittedly not at all knowledgable of Detroit accounting practices so I will take your word for it.

 

[West1]

Ford accounting Mark's a vehicle as sold (for profit) the second it is printed with a Vin #. If it sits in a holding lot awaiting parts or delivery, doesn't matter to the top brass. They report to the shareholders that everything is perfectly fine, just like the orchestra playing on the Titanic deck as its sinking.

Here is a quote from a brag sheet from Ford:

• Ford’s April retail sales were up 57.1 percent, not only selling above 2020 results, but also up 23.7 percent relative to April 2019 results. Together, retail truck and SUV sales were up 70.1 percent providing Ford Truck and SUV sales with their best April retail sales performance since 2006.

So you might be correct.

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