ice-capades

Per Friday's FDNB (Fleet Distribution News Bulletin) here's the updated timetable for the 2018/2019 Lincoln Continental. 06/29/2018 - 2018MY Fleet Final Order Due Date 07/26/2018 - 2018MY Last Day to Spec Change 09/20/2018 - 2018MY Balance Out Date 07/18/2018 - 2019MY Order Bank Open Date 08/16/2018 - 2019MY Scheduling Begins 10/01/2018 - 2019MY Job #1 Date

PRODUCTION WEEK SCHEDULING INFORMATION FOR THE WEEK OF 08/06/2018. 2019 EcoSport Startup Scheduling to Begin on Thursday 08/16/2018 2019 Edge Cleanup Scheduling. Retail orders will not be eligible to schedule until the “OK to Buy” has been achieved. 2018 Escape Balance Out SIMS orders will be scheduled on Monday 08/06/2018 2018 Expedition Cleanup Scheduling. Final 2018MY Expedition orders due on Thursday 08/09/2018 2019 Explorer Cleanup Scheduling 2018 F-150 Cleanup Scheduling 2019 Fiesta No Scheduling 2019 Flex Retail Order Scheduling Only 2019 Fusion No Scheduling 2019 Mustang No Scheduling 2019 F-Series SD Cleanup Scheduling 2019 Taurus No Scheduling 2019 Transit Cleanup Scheduling 2019 Transit Connect Cleanup Scheduling 2018 Lincoln Continental Balanced Out 2019 Lincoln MKC No Scheduling 2019 Lincoln MKT No Scheduling 2019 Lincoln MKZ Cleanup Scheduling 2019 Lincoln Nautilus Cleanup Scheduling. Retail orders will not be eligible to schedule until the “OK to Buy” has been achieved. 2018 Lincoln Navigator Cleanup Scheduling. Final 2018MY Navigator orders due on Thursday 08/09/2018

The updated version of the 2019 Mustang Order Guide has been uploaded to the "Order Guide" section.

Depends on the market a Dealer's in regarding inventory. Our store went a number of years where we only stocked 1 Expedition on an occasional basis and those were usually swapped out to another Ford Dealer. Then the Dealer Principal started driving an Expedition as a "Demo" and found that the only way we could sell them to retail customers was for him to drive them long enough where we could sell them for at least $8,000-10,000 off MSRP with Ford rebates. We started stocking the new Expedition and were selling them at a rate of about 2 per month for a while but now the sales rate has dropped and we haven't sold one in over a month. We have 3 in stock and 2 more due to arrive in a few weeks. The stock model mix is a combination of White Platinum and Shadow Black XLT's w/202A as well as a couple of Limited's and a Limited MAX. We've stopped taking allocation for additional Expedition inventory until our sales rate goes back up in a market that's dominated by new full size Chevy's & GMC's.

Has there been any information on Tesla's weekly production rates since they met the 5K objective with a 2nd line under the tent?

Agreed... great looking truck and RV!

How about Demolition Derby?

Actually, my all-time favorite was my 1976 Mercury Cougar XR-7 which I bought after trading in my '74 Cougar XR-7. I drove the '76 Cougar cross country for 9 months on tour that year and then came back East in late May '76 after working in LA and then spending time with friends and co-workers in the entertainment business in Las Vegas. The Cougar XR-7 was like driving a baby Mark IV and literally helped save the Mercury Division back then to the point that all the TV commercials ended with the tag line "At the sign of the Cat" with a live cougar sitting on top of the Mercury signage!

Follow-up to my previous note about the 2019 Mustang Bullitt which was produced on 07/17/2017 and then released and shipped within 48 hours. The vehicle arrived at the Twin Oaks, PA Ramp on 07/25/2018 and was shipped via United Road carrier on 08/01/2018. The Bullitt arrived at the dealership yesterday morning (08/02/2018) at 5:30am. The Bullitt arrived in good condition but had 35 miles on it and the wheel locks had been stolen. The wheel locks and key are shipped in a labeled, white plastic bag in the trunk but only the torn open bag was in the vehicle. I can't remember the last time wheel locks were missing from a vehicle. Why take the wheel locks and key any leave the torn open package behind? Just take the whole package which is labeled! Now about the 35 miles on the odometer. Mustangs almost always arrive at the dealership with only 3-4 miles on the odometer. In cases where there is additional miles on the odometer there's always an addendum label on the vehicle stating that it was selected for random testing, etc. but there was no such label attached on the vehicle when it arrived. And not surprisingly, the vehicle arrived with a "0 Miles to Empty" display. Hmmmm. Sure seems like someone decided to take a ride to check out the Bullitt! Not much point in complaining to anyone though. Just wanted to share. FYI... The retail customer also purchased our 2018 Shelby GT350 about 2 months ago and is a collector of sorts. As such, when I inspected the Bullitt I pulled the "Build Sheet" and gave it to the sales representative to pass on to the customer for additional documentation.

For a number of years now, all Ford's talked about is their profit objective. They don't want to match competitors incentives unless they have to and still meet their profit objective for a vehicle line. They've made it clear that they're willing to lose business and customers unless they can meet their profit based objective. Somewhere along the line the suits in Dearborn failed to learn the importance of brand loyalty. If you can't sell the customer the 1st time, you can't sell them the 2nd time! Now they're trying to run conquest promotions to get owners of non-Ford vehicles to buy or lease. If Ford had done more in the first place they wouldn't have lost those customers!

Focus being out of production for 3 months shouldn't be a factor at all as rarely does a customer place factory orders for a Focus. There's a ton of Focus inventory in stock and the Ford rebates here are $4,000 for the regular Focus and $3,500 for the Focus ST.

Job #1 Date for the 2019 Fusion is 08/21/2018. The OTD (Order-to-Delivery) estimated lead time for 2019 Fusion fleet orders is 14-16 weeks per the latest FDNB (Fleet Distribution News Bulletin).

Just great to hear that your Dealer gave you the wrong VIN number. Just goes to show you how many dealers can't get correct order status information for customers.

No problem. I just wanted to know if your Dealer had given you any information beyond the little you mentioned about the delay due to the fire, etc. at the supplier.

Retail customer orders are automatically identified for expedited delivery and include green window stickers for easy identification compared to the standard blue window stickers. If your vehicle is really being held at the ramp for a quality hold issue it might be a unit that the plant is concerned being included in a production range issue that's being investigated. Of course, it's also possible that there's no quality hold and simply a matter of not enough vehicles available to ship to your dealership's area.

Have you talked to your Dealer lately about the scheduling update for your VIN number? Your Dealer has 24/7 access to the Vehicle Visibility tracking system and can give you the complete history and current status for your order.

I have a 2019 Mustang Bullitt for a customer, that also bought a 2018 Shelby GT350 a few months ago, that was released and shipped immediately and made it to the final rail ramp destination in only 6 days. Unfortunately, someone decided that Mustangs destined for CT dealerships would be shipped via CSX Rail. CSX carries the Mustangs to western PA and then sends them to MD followed by a trip north to the rail ramp at Twin Oaks, PA outside of Philadelphia. The Twin Oaks Ramp is 160 miles from our dealership and United Road (carrier) has no other vehicles at the ramp for delivery anywhere near us. As a result, United Road probably won't be able to deliver the Bullitt for a least a month. Our only option is to send our trailer to pick up the Bullitt at the ramp. Someone decided about a year ago to send Mustangs headed to our area via CSX Rail and now we have this delivery nightmare from the ramp at Twin Oaks, PA. Sending vehicles 160 miles via car carrier is a long haul compared to the majority of our vehicles which are sent to the rail ramp at Newark, NJ which is only half the distance away. Vehicles out of the Newark Ramp are hauled by Fleet Car which is pretty good at prompt deliveries.

Have you talked to your Dealer and asked them for a status update? Your Dealer has 24/7 access to the Vehicle Visibility tracking system. Shipping from the Flat Rock Assembly Plant is notorious for shipping delays but lately cars have been released and shipped on time.

So sorry for your loss. Thanks for sharing.

My 2nd car and 1st new Ford was a 1971 Torino.

Basically, it's scheduling allocation that got carried over from the prior week because the plant schedule was filled up, etc.

File Name: 2008 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor Order Guide File Submitter: ice-capades File Submitted: 28 Jul 2018 File Category: Police Interceptor 2008 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor Order Guide Click here to download this file

File Name: 2009 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor Order Guide File Submitter: ice-capades File Submitted: 28 Jul 2018 File Category: Police Interceptor 2009 Crown Victoria Police Interceptor Order Guide Click here to download this file