ice-capades

The 2014 C-MAX Hybrid Order Bank is scheduled to open on 09/18/2013 and the Order Guide should be released on or about that date. Attached is the most recent update to the 2013 C-MAX Hybrid & C-MAX Energi Order Guides. 2013 C-Max Energi Order Guide.pdf 2013 C-MAX Hybrid Order Guide.pdf

If you're not satisfied with the busy sales manager I'd suggest that you go higher and talk to the General Manager or Dealer Principal. It's in their best interest to assist you as after delivery you're going to get a survey from Ford about your experience and the dealership will experience repercussions for negative feedback.

We had allocation for 5 2014 Fusions last week and only 1 was scheduled. The unscheduled allocation from last week rolled over to this week giving me allocation for 9 vehicles to be scheduled this week. FYI... I have about 40 Fusions in the order bank with every powertrain and package combination. The scheduling result was that only 2 Fusions were scheduled yesterday morning. I called the "Field Scheduler" on Wednesday which was of no help and saw our Ford Zone Manager yesterday morning and he's clueless. On the plus side, at least one of the two 2014 Fusion orders scheduled yesterday was a retail order for a 1.6L/Manual Transmission that was placed for a customer earlier this week.

FYI... Getting 2014 Fusions scheduled has been anything but easy so far. I have about 40 orders in the USOB (Unscheduled Order Bank) including every model and every powertrain. Last week I had allocation for 5 units and only one vehicle was scheduled... a 2014 Fusion S for Flat Rock production. The 4 unscheduled orders from last week were added to this week's allocation giving me 9 Fusions to be scheduled this week. As of this morning's "AM Scheduling Preview Report" only 2 units are flagged for scheduling tomorrow morning. Included in the "AM Preview" report is a list of units not selected for scheduling with the reasons why. For every order not selected for scheduling tomorrow morning, the reason listed is "No Dealer Allocation"! Ford generates SIMS (Smart Inventory Management System) suggested orders each week but not even those orders are flagged for scheduling this week. I've tried repeatedly to contact the Field Scheduling Agent in Dearborn but haven't been able to get anything other than voice mail today. Just wanted to share this week's experience with the BON Forum members here to share the frustration involved in getting vehicles scheduled at times!

Per this week's Commodity and Constraints Letter... On July 25 – Scheduling Unscheduled Allocation in Week 30 at the Hermosillo Plant and Week 34 at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant Retail Scheduling The okay to buy has been achieved at Hermosillo Plant excluding orders with the 1.5L engine. Retail orders without the 1.5L engine will be selected for scheduling on 7/25. Good News! To assist with the demand for the new 2014 Fusion, production has been added at an additional plant - Flat Rock Assembly Plant (“FRAP”). Startup scheduling at FRAP will continue this week (7/25) for Fusion with Week 34 allocation. Any Fusion Allocation in Week 30 will be built at Hermosillo where all configurations will continue to be produced including the S and SE FWD. Note: Only 2 Fusion configurations are being built at FRAP. They are the S Series (P0G) & the FWD SE (P0H) with a 1.5L Engine. By Thursday, August 15 scheduling, system fill at FRAP should be completed and Fusion allocation will no longer require two separate scheduling plans by allocation week. We apologize for any confusion this system fill scheduling plan at FRAP may cause. Scheduling Restrictions for Week 34 at FRAP during System Fill: • Only stock orders are eligible to schedule until the OKTB is achieved. • During this start up scheduling period at FRAP, Dealers in Select Zones V, W, X, Y & Z will not schedule any of their Week 33, 34, 35 allocation at FRAP. This allocation will be eligible to begin scheduling after system fill is completed. • Dealers in Region 70, 71, 72 and 74 will not participate in system fill scheduling at Flat Rock Assembly Plant. Paint Not Buildable at FRAP: • BT - Darkside • D7 - Sunset Options Not Buildable at FRAP: • 18C – Active Park Assist with Forward Sensing System • 47B – Start-Stop • 52A – Heated Steering Wheel • 53B – Adaptive Cruise Control with Forward Collision Warning with Brake Support • 62A – Intelligent Access w/Push Button Start • 64B – 18” Premium Painted Luxury Wheel • 67B – Rear Inflatable Seat Belts • 90A – SE Luxury Driver Assist Package • 96B – Trunk Cargo Net

The Ford Transit series will be introduced as a 2015MY vehicle. As such, there won't be much information available for some time.

Here we go again with all the speculation via "inside sources" about the 50th anniversary Mustang, 2014.5MY vs. 2015MY designation, limited production, etc. I'll enjoy the speculation and just wait for an official announcement from Ford along with an actual Order Guide. The 2014.5MY anniversary makes no sense as there was no 1964.5 Mustang as those cars were registered and titled as 1965 models. As such, the official anniversary will be with the 2015MY. A limited production of 1,000 units? Most of those cars would go to California, Texas and Florida markets as determined by the "share of market" allocation that Ford would probably use. I'd expect that Ford will do an anniversary package option for limited production around 5,000 units so that at least every dealer would have a chance of getting an actual anniversary edition model. I just hope that Ford doesn't put a 50th Anniversary badge on every 2015MY Mustang like they did for the 40th Anniversary year with the 2004MY Mustangs. Ford produced an actual 40th Anniversary, limited production series yet every 2004 Mustang owner thought they had an anniversary edition because of the fender badges. It was a mess to deal with back then and for years afterwards when the 2004 Mustangs were being traded in! I've been driving Mustangs as my company cars for a lot of years now and I'm as anxious as everyone else to actually see the next generation Mustang. We'll continue to see more revealing spy photos and in a few more months Ford will release the actual timetable for the 2015 Mustang but until there's an official Ford announcement and an actual 2015 Mustang Order Guide it's all just speculation!

The "OK to Buy" restriction applies to all model lines regardless of whether it's an all-new vehicle or a simple model year changeover.

2014 Fusion commodity and constraints information for scheduling on Thursday, July 18th. On July 18 – Scheduling Unscheduled Allocation in Week 29 at the Hermosillo Plant and Week 33 at the Flat Rock Assembly Plant Good News! To assist with the demand for the new 2014 Fusion, production has been added at an additional plant - Flat Rock Assembly Plant (“FRAP”). Startup scheduling at FRAP will begin this week (7/18) for Fusion with Week 33 allocation. Any Fusion Allocation in Week 29 will be built at Hermosillo where all configurations will continue to be produced including the S and SE FWD. Note: Only 2 Fusion configurations are being built at FRAP. They are the S Series (P0G) & the FWD SE (P0H) with a 1.5L Engine. By Thursday, August 15 scheduling, system fill at FRAP should be completed and Fusion allocation will no longer require two separate scheduling plans by allocation week. We apologize for any confusion this system fill scheduling plan at FRAP may cause. Scheduling Restrictions for Week 33 at FRAP during System Fill: • Only stock orders are eligible to schedule until the OKTB is achieved. • During this start up scheduling period at FRAP, Dealers in Select Zones V, W, X, Y & Z will not schedule any of their Week 33, 34, 35 allocation at FRAP. This allocation will be eligible to begin scheduling after system fill is completed. • Dealers in Region 70, 71, 72 and 74 will not participate in system fill scheduling at Flat Rock Assembly Plant. Paint Not Buildable at FRAP: • BT - Darkside • D7 - Sunset Options Not Buildable at FRAP: • 18C – Active Park Assist with Forward Sensing System • 47B – Start-Stop • 52A – Heated Steering Wheel • 53B – Adaptive Cruise Control with Forward Collision Warning with Brake Support • 62A – Intelligent Access w/Push Button Start • 64B – 18” Premium Painted Luxury Wheel • 67B – Rear Inflatable Seat Belts • 90A – SE Luxury Driver Assist Package • 96B – Trunk Cargo Net Retail Scheduling Until the okay to buy has been achieved, retail orders will not be selected for scheduling. Order Guide Updates • Intelligent Access with Push Button Start (62A) is now available with Job #1 production. An important note is that the option INCLUDES remote start. The order guide is being updated to make this clear. Please advise the dealers that the option includes the remote start feature. • Power Code Remote Start System (55S) is also now available with Job #1 production, including with the new 1.5L engine. • The Wireless Charging Accessory (77C) is no longer available. Fusion orders with this option will not be selected for scheduling. Please remove this option from existing orders. • The Front Heated and Cooled Front Seats (46B) and Medium Soft Ceramic on Titanium are both late availability. They will begin scheduling in mid-October (November Production).

Received confirmation this morning that Ford of Europe started scheduling 2014 Transit Connect vehicles as of Thursday, July 11th!

Photos of 2014 Escape Titanium 4WD that arrived yesterday with the new Sunset Metallic paint... Hope that these photos might help answer questions about what the new Sunset Metallic looks like on the 2014 Escape.

Unfortunately, Ford just keeps messing up the model line-ups with more and more vehicles... the Escape, Focus and Fusion lines in particular. The SE "Plus" option makes no sense at all and just confuses the Market and hurts residual values. The SEL trim level should have stayed in all these vehicle lines and included the standard leather seats which were long established on the SEL series. On the Escape Titanium, the 2.0L EcoBoost should have remained the standard engine but the standard seats should have been upgraded to leather only. If the Titanium series is to be the top-of-the-line then treat it as such and equip it as such.

Initial 2014 Transit Connect scheduling has now been pushed back until next Thursday, July 11th. For the past 2 weeks 2014 Transit Connect units that were scheduled have been rejected by Ford of Europe. Hopefully the problem will be corrected by next week!

2014 Fusion production starts 07/15/2013 at the Hermosillo plant and 09/03/2013 at Flat Rock.

I don't understand why Ford is still printing owners manuals instead of putting everything on DVD's that could also include video tutorials.

Years ago Ford dealers could enter a code for an "off standard" color combination and some dealers got a little too creative with it and you could actually order a blue car with a red interior!

Notice to dealers posted this morning via the FMCDealer.com portal... 1.6L EcoBoost Engine Availability Change In order to optimize the 2014 Transit Connect Powertrain lineup, the optional 1.6L EcoBoost Engine (option 99X) is no longer available for the Long Wheelbase wagons (body codes S9E, E9E, S9F, E9F, and E9G). The optional engine will continue to be available on the remaining Transit Connect variants (all vans and short wheelbase wagons). Adding 99X to a CONCEPS order in conjunction with body codes S9E, E9E, S9F or E9G will result in an error message stating "Engine no longer available on long wheelbase wagons". The order guide is in the process of being updated with this option change. Options and Trims with Late availability Production for 2014 Transit Connects with any of the following options is currently scheduled to start in February 2014: • Charcoal Black Cloth Seats for XL Wagons (Trim 6B in conjunction with body codes S9E or E9E) • CNG/LPG Gaseous Engine Prep Package (option 98G) • Medium Stone Cloth for XLT Vans (Trim 7L in conjunction with body codes S6F, S7F, E6F or E7F) • Taxi Package (option 86T) • Upfitter Wiring Harness (86G) Due to their late availability, adding any of the above options to the CONCEPS order will result in a hold message.

Attached is the updated version of the 2014 Fusion Order Guide. Changes are listed on the first page. 2014 Fusion Order Guide.pdf

2014 E-Series Van & Wagon Order Guides 2014 E-Series Van Order Guide.pdf 2014 E-Series Wagon Order Guide.pdf

Ford will finally start scheduling 2014 Transit Connect orders this Thursday, June 27th. The production move from Turkey to Spain can only help shorten the transportation time. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to a better quality design and production for the all-new 2014 Transit Connect. I expect the new 2014 Fiesta series to sell better but still stocked by dealers mostly as an entry level model. The price overlap between Fiesta and Focus will always be an issue and dealers will be cautious in stocking high-end Fiesta models that will compete directly with a similar Focus vehicle. The 1.0L EcoBoost engine is still not included in the 2014 Fiesta Order Guide! Ford has already been vocal about 2013 Fusion inventory expected to be in short supply over the summer months as sales are outstripping production. On the plus side, 2014 Fusion production starts at the Flat Rock plant in early September but with a slow start-up and quality holds for inspection prior to the initial shipping release, vehicles produced at Flat Rock can't be expected to ship and start arriving at dealerships until probably November. As such, Fusion inventory will remain tight for a number of months but after the Flat Rock plant production is up to speed and vehicles are being shipped from Flat Rock, Ford Fusion sales will continue to increase based on better availability. To the competition... watch out! Taurus... I wouldn't even begin to speculate on the Taurus and directly related Explorer series. Whatever changes are in store for the next few years will be directly related to the impact on Police Interceptor models. At least in my opinion right now. Mustang... Ford is just now starting to tease the Market with spy photos and videos of the all-new 2015 Mustang. Nothing will be revealed unless Ford wants it to be revealed. It's all about building anticipation for the all-new, next generation 2015 Mustang without showing too much that would discourage current buyers. I'll try to continue this comment thread tomorrow regarding my thoughts and comments about Ford's truck models going forward!

The purpose of the post wasn't about the Raptor MPG being poor but just about the point that you'd made. No one buying a Raptor buys it for MPG results. If anything, I was surprised that the boss did as well as 13.8 MPG average in the Raptor!

FYI... Our Dealer Principal just got back from a 2-3 week trip with his son in a new 2013 F-150 Raptor SuperCrew that they picked up from a dealer in Texas. They drove from Dallas to Arizona, then Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Billings, Montana, then to Mount Rushmore, Chicago, etc. with a number of other stops to historical sites returning to Connecticut this past weekend. The EPA mileage estimates for the Raptor SuperCrew are 11 City/16 Highway. They drove over 5,000 miles and averaged 13.8 MPG on highways with 70-80 MPH speed limits. A Ford tonneau cover was installed in Las Vegas but the boss said that it didn't impact the vehicles MPG at all!

FYI... 2014 Transit Connect scheduling finally starts this Thursday, June 27th!

2014 Focus Order Guide 2014 Focus Order Guide.pdf 2014 Focus ST Order Guide.pdf

As the dealership manager responsible for ordering/buying new Ford inventory I'm aware of our customer concerns regarding the MyFord Touch technology and order our stock inventory accordingly. Specifically, I order a certain percentage of our stock inventory without the MyFord Touch features in order to satisfy the specific customer demographic that does not want it.