[Oct 10] Email just received from Ford: "What's next for your F-150 Lightning Reservation - Orders will be starting soon"

[BennyTheBeaver]

My dealer has gotten one (1) filled reservation so far, with two more expected for November. Ford will need a huge amount of ramp up to fulfill the backlog.

No they won't. They will just invite everyone to order a Platinum. Then they will have fulfilled their statement of inviting everyone next summer and will have flushed their backlog out.

They very carefully stated everyone will be invited to order, not that they will fulfill all reservations or even make all trims available.

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[ndmiller]

I reserved in first week watching last year be a total wet noodle disappointment. Moved on and bought a nice Porsche being produced and delivered from Germany in about 60 days. Had disposable income and needs to be met sans silence or vague disappointing emails (see below). There is a reason we don't buy American cars. Toyota Tundra is a beast, but honestly more wanted durable EV than pickup anyway.

BTW quote from the email
The Pro series is sold out for retail customers and the availability of other models remains limited.

I moved my reservation last year and was refunded yetstill have reservation at new dealer. Ford rep said it keeps things simple with new dealer, no money owed no issues later.

If I can float it and Ford offers me an order, I'll place it and resell it when it arrives. Capitalism at it's best.

Noah

 

[astricklin]

Like everyone else, I'm 17 months in already with my reservation. Add another year (or more!) to that and... well I might just have a lightly-used model X in my driveway by then. With a receiver hitch. Not the rig I wanted but at this rate I could die of old age before getting a Lightning. Come on Ford, we have waited long enough! Git 'R Done!

If you'd have bought the model X 17 months ago it would be worth more than you paid for it.
Just go buy the model X and sell it if you decide to keep the lightning.

 

[ChrisInJAX]

As a finance guy, my spider sense is Ford is using this email / business initiative to more or less lock in deliveries for next years guidance to Wall Street analyst. Similar to an article today in the WSJ about people spending $550+ for a table at the Vegas sportbooks. “It’s like the nightclub model.. where access to thr booth is what you are paying for, not the music.”
Wall Street knows they are going to sell the Lightnings.. the game then becomes can convert orders to the higher margin trucks (ie Lariats and Platinums), which improves the financial statements and quarterly guidance, thus improving shareholder value

 

[brewski]

What @ChrisInJAX said...and...my impression is the marketing folks aren't great at internal communication...so who knows what any of it means.

When I got notified to order my truck, I got a text.
The link in the text didn't work.
I called Ford, and after getting bounced around, finally a person said "yea, marketing gets ahead of itself at times".
The next day I got an email inviting me to order, and that worked.

 

[davehu]

MY23 Ford production plan snapshop: from a mcarther ford video someone posted to another thread, This slide caught my eye and this particulary: "70% of MY23 orders will be in the final 4 months of the year.

 

[BennyTheBeaver]

MY23 Ford production plan snapshop: from a mcarther ford video someone posted to another thread, This slide caught my eye and this particulary: "70% of MY23 orders will be in the final 4 months of the year.

Very interesting. Anyone know why the drop-off in Jan 23?

 

[TaxmanHog]

Very interesting. Anyone know why the drop-off in Jan 23?

Last week of December semi-annual plant maintenance, then I suspect a slow down to let workers focus on clearing some of the 40,000 total backlog of chip holds {ICE & BEV}

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