ice-capades

Forget the V6 option on a Fusion... The V6 is history!

Our store had its monthly wholesale meeting earlier this week to review Ford's allocation offer for May production. Part of the discussion involved scheduling of 5 retail 2013 F-150 Raptor orders that have been in the USOB (Unscheduled Order Bank) for several months now or longer. Ford has always claimed that dealers had to "Turn & Earn" in order to get more allocation meaning that the more you sold, the more you could get. OK... but we delivered 4 retail Raptors last month alone. Why can't we get these new retail Raptor orders scheduled? That's when the conversation turned to the C-MAX Energi, Fusion Energi and Fusion Electric dealership certification. We asked and begged Ford for the "electric/plug-in" franchise well over a year ago and there's been one delay after another for a variety of reasons. Now Ford says that they have to have commitments for Energi and Focus Electric orders ASAP in order to meet their production commitment to the government for the 2013 Model Year. We've been strung along for the past year, now Ford needs the business and orders from dealers. We're at the installation stage for the charging stations that Ford requires yet the quote is about $8,500 for 2 stations that our electricians tell us should cost no more than $3,000. Now comes the interesting part. If we make the Energi/EV installation commitment we can get our retail F-150 Raptor orders scheduled... IF we agree to buy 20 C-MAN Energi, Fusion Energi & Focus Electric vehicles during the 2013 Model Year. Of course, by the time the vehicles are built and arrive the 2014 MY vehicles will be in production. Our Vehicle Locator search of vehicles in stock in NY, etc. where the vehicles have been available already shows a lot of available inventory that isn't selling or leasing much. Yet Ford will give us the 5 F-150 Raptors we need if we agree to buy 20 2013 Energi/EVF vehicles that could cost $800,000 at retail. This is the same type of "horse trading" that went on 25 years ago. You want how many of this model? OK... but you'll also have to buy this many poor selling vehicles. Ford is NOT now being managed as we've seen under CEO Mulally previously. It's looking like a return to the old days which isn't good.

I was told this morning via information directly from Ford's regional office that there is a backlog of 7,000 units at the Fusion plant and that they expect all vehicles to be shipped by April 15th. I certainly hope so for all of you waiting for your retail ordered vehicles as well as for dealers trying to get inventory in stock to maintain the great sales rate!

There is absolutely no timetable information for either the 2013 or 2014 Edge which is very unusual. All dates in the latest Fleet Distribution News Bulletin are TBD... To Be Determined.

All the powertrain engineering and weight savings going forward will be to meet the ever demanding CAFE standards going forward along with the competitive pressure. For some of us this going to be similar to what it was like 25 years ago. Back then a Dealer could count on one hand the number of Mustang GT's they'd see in a model year. Ford new exactly how many Escorts they had to sell in order to build one more Mustang GT, Crown Victoria or Town Car and still meet that year's CAFE requirement without risking the penalties. The more performance oriented or less fuel efficient models will still be available but in smaller numbers as the market demand shifts but you'll pay even more to get those vehicles.

Forget the Ford Zone Manager as he/she can do nothing about expediting delivery of delayed Fusions. I deal with our Ford Zone Manager every month for our "wholesale" allocation meetings and other matters and just met with him again earlier this week. We have a 2013 Fusion SE with the 6-Speed Manual Transmission that was ordered for a retail customer and has been awaiting shipment now for exactly a month. The Ford representative told us that he couldn't do anything and that we should try to dealer trade for one. The manual transmission Fusion is restricted to retail factory orders only. Dealers are not allowed to order them for stock! Ironically, we had another manual transmission Fusion that was ordered for another retail customer at about the same time that experienced no shipping delays. Go Further. Go Figure!

I've worked for my dealership for 27 years and have never heard any reference to ETIS so I'd like to know what it is also!

Sorry but I have to take exception to your comment that your dealer has been fantastic other than providing you with vehicle status information you want. If the staff member at the dealership doesn't know what a Vehicle Visibility report is, ask to talk to someone else at the dealership that does. Work your way up the dealership management if necessary. There's absolutely no excuse for them to not be able to provide you with the vehicle status information you want. I talked to a relatively new sales representative at our dealership the other day in order to give him an update on an ordered 2013 Fusion for one of his customers. HIs customer was looking for information and I told the sales representative to let me know as I could easily provide him with updated vehicle status information that he could send to the customer. The customer's vehicle is "In Production" and I immediately retrieved the window sticker PDF so that he could send it to the customer.

Job #1 at Flat Rock isn't until August 26th when Flat Rock starts building the 2014MY Fusion! And I'd expect that it will take a number of months before Flat Rock is running at full speed.

Roof damage on any vehicle is critical. If it's minor and repairable it's one thing but if the roof damage is severe you have a problem as it's not a simple process of replacing the roof panel. When removing or replacing the roof panel you also have to replace the windshield and rear window as neither can be re-installed. I've had brand new Mustang's returned to Ford because of roof damage and couldn't be sold as new even after repair because of the costs involved. I would expect that if the insurance company gave you a check for the damage that it will definitely show up on a CarFax report at some point. Only you can make the decision as to what to do.

NO question that there should be a better method of communication with customers AND Dealers that have placed retail factory orders. The fact that even Ford Dealers have trouble getting updated and accurate information on vehicle order or shipping status is inexcusable. My dealership has several 2013 Fusion units that have been "awaiting shipment" for some time. I use the Vehicle Visibility program several times a day in order to get the latest status updates on both retail and fleet orders. We have a 2013 Fusion that has been sitting at the plant "awaiting shipment" since October 5th of last year. Another vehicle is a 2013 Fusion that has been "awaiting shipment" since March 6th. Until a few years ago, Ford dealers could call the Order Processing Center directly for assistance but in recent years we can only send an online inquiry regarding vehicle status. Unfortunately, the response is always the same with a statement that the vehicle is being held at the plant for an unspecified quality issue. The Ford response then gives detailed instructions on how to access the Vehicle Visibility report function. Gee, if the Vehicle Visibility report was updated with the information I needed, I wouldn't be sending a follow-up inquiry to the Business Assistance Center! I was in a meeting with our Ford Zone Manager this afternoon and was told that he couldn't help us with getting information on a retail 2013 Fusion's vehicle shipping issues or updated status. Thank you so much Ford! Your Dealers can't get updated vehicle status information on retail orders, your factory managers can't assist their dealers with the necessary information and customers are tracking their own vehicle status directly with the rail carriers when they're finally able to get rail car information for their vehicle that have actually shipped!

Ford has made it very clear all along that the Mustang Boss would be available for 2 years only... 2012MY & 2013MY. There will be NO Boss for the 2014MY!

Obviously it's been many years since you've looked at a Mustang convertible! It's neither cheap or crude!

Neither Ford Motor Company or the new Lincoln Motor Company seem to be operating as either division did under Ford's CEO direction until the past year or so. First there was the multiple recall situation with the 2013 Escape launch... then the continuous quality holds and shipping delays with the 2013 Fusion. Both Fusion & Lincoln vehicles being sent to Flat Rock for additional quality inspection and/or repair issues yet my Dealership still has a Fusion sitting athe plant since last October 6th with no information provided to inquiries from Ford's Business Assistance Center as recently as last week!

Two e-mail messages to your Dealer and no reply yet? Sorry but there's no excuse. At least a reply acknowledging that they'd received your e-mail message(s) and would get back to you within a certain period of time would be understandable. I'm at my office no later than 5:30am every morning, 6 days a week (no kidding!) and one of the first things I do is run a Vehicle Visibility report for every retail and fleet unit that is then distributed to 5 different managers so that they all have the latest status information. In addition, I maintain a "DORA" (Dealer Order Receipt Acknowledgement) book in my office which is available to all sales representatives and lists the updated status for every scheduled or unscheduled vehicle in the Dealership's Order Bank. For retail orders, I also personally advise the sales representatives of any status updates (scheduled, in production, shipped, etc.) so that they can advise their customers accordingly. Customer satisfaction is directly related to customer communication... especially when it comes to factory retail orders. There needs to be a better system in place so that customers with retail factory orders in process can get updates. Unfortunately, in too many instances, Ford dealers are failing miserably which is unacceptable. Provide retail customers with updated order status notifications via e-mail or special website access Schedule all retail orders above a Dealer's allocation Provide unscheduled retail customers with information on why their vehicle was not scheduled in any week along with estimated future schedule information Hope this helps a bit at least as far as hearing from a Dealer that is reading and understanding all the frustration expressed on this forum.

Here's the message that I just posted a few moments ago to the similar thread... Actually, I'm surprised that it's taken Ford this long to take the Mustang global on a sales basis. Ford's totally messed up the design and marketing of other long established models (Thunderbird, Lincoln Mark, etc.) but they've done a pretty good and consistent job with the Mustang over the years. They fully understand it being an iconic model, with important market and marketing roles. Sure the Camaro has been outselling the Mustang the past few years but consider the pent up demand for the Camaro which was shown at the car shows for nearly 5 years before the car finally went into production. Ford re-established the Mustang with the 1st next generation "Retro" version with the 2005 Model Year and has continued to refine the car further every year since. When Ford announced that the all-new next generation 2015 Mustang would be sold globally they stated that they would be getting away from the "Retro" styling in order to make the car more appealing to the global market. The market has changed and the buyer demographic along with it. As such, Ford's faced with the dilemma of recreating an iconic model that will appeal to a wider demographic and on a global basis. Ford is not going to mess up with the 2015 Mustang. They'll provide the V6 & GT powertrains that are established and expected and add an EcoBoost option to help with the global markets as well as EPA and/or CAFE requirements. What's most important to anyone that understands and appreciates the Mustang's iconic status is that the next generation have enough styling clues to identify it as a Ford Mustang, no matter where it's seen! It's time for an all-new, next generation Mustang that will move the model into the future, still be instantly recognizable as a Mustang and appeal to a wider audience!

Actually, I'm surprised that it's taken Ford this long to take the Mustang global on a sales basis. Ford's totally messed up the design and marketing of other long established models (Thunderbird, Lincoln Mark, etc.) but they've done a pretty good and consistent job with the Mustang over the years. They fully understand it being an iconic model, with important market and marketing roles. Sure the Camaro has been outselling the Mustang the past few years but consider the pent up demand for the Camaro which was shown at the car shows for nearly 5 years before the car finally went into production. Ford re-established the Mustang with the 1st next generation "Retro" version with the 2005 Model Year and has continued to refine the car further every year since. When Ford announced that the all-new next generation 2015 Mustang would be sold globally they stated that they would be getting away from the "Retro" styling in order to make the car more appealing to the global market. The market has changed and the buyer demographic along with it. As such, Ford's faced with the dilemma of recreating an iconic model that will appeal to a wider demographic and on a global basis. Ford is not going to mess up with the 2015 Mustang. They'll provide the V6 & GT powertrains that are established and expected and add an EcoBoost option to help with the global markets as well as EPA and/or CAFE requirements. What's most important to anyone that understands and appreciates the Mustang's iconic status is that the next generation have enough styling clues to identify it as a Ford Mustang, no matter where it's seen! It's time for an all-new, next generation Mustang that will move the model into the future, still be instantly recognizable as a Mustang and appeal to a wider audience!

Well said Deanh!

Retail 2013 Fusion orders were given priority scheduling several weeks ago to the contrary of many reports online. Even according to this week's "Commodity & Constraints" letter to dealers, the notice is that Ruby Red paint scheduling is restricted to "Retail" orders. As such, there should be no production delays for retail orders with Ruby Red paint. Relax!

A deposit on a vehicle, ordered or otherwise, has nothing to do with Ford Motor Company. Even when there is an "Order Verification" program in place, the only documentation that a Dealer has to provide to Ford is a scanned copy of a purchase order along with the purchaser's Driver's License. At no time is record of a deposit required or reported to Ford. A deposit is an agreement only between the customer and their Dealer.

The "Dealer Code" is fixed and assigned by Ford when the store became a Ford Dealer. The vehicle order number is assigned by the Dealer when the vehicle order is placed.

After the vehicle is built and goes through the necessary quality inspections it's released from the plant for shipment. It hardly means that it's placed on a rail car the next day. There is a big shortage of rail cars and Fusions have sometimes been delayed for weeks or longer before actually leaving the plant on a rail car.

Scheduling for the 2014 Fiesta models started two weeks ago. I've seen no information specifically related to scheduling or production of the 2014 Fiesta ST model.

All this speculation about the next generation 2015 Mustang and the additional engineering required in order to sell it on a global basis. Ford has made big mistakes in the past with other models but they've always been very careful with both respecting and understanding the Mustang's iconic history in the industry. For the first time they're going to take the car global and they're not going to mess it up. While the market in Europe is important, that's only part of the new global market for the next generation Mustang. They understand and respect that the next generation has to be true to the Mustang heritage in styling clues and performance but still be attractive on a global basis in order to meet the demands of the global market regarding engineering, safety and fuel economy. With the all-new Mustang due to go into production in less than a year now you can be sure that all but the most minor elements are all locked in now. It's just a matter now of what information chooses to leak to the press until the car is unveiled at a future car show. Any discussion now is just speculation but as much fun as it is... that's all it is. The only prize is the initial reveal of the all-new Mustang when Ford decides to do so!

Dealers never know about the new incentives until Ford releases the updates via the FMCDealer.com communications portal.