ice-capades

Per yesterday's Fleet Distribution News Bulletin, below is the latest information available for the 2014 Model Year... 03/11/2013 2014MY Order Bank Opens 05/02/2013 2014MY Scheduling Begins 06/03/2013 2014MY Job #1 Date The new Model Year order guides are usually released to Ford Dealers on or about the time that the USOB (Unscheduled Order Bank) opens.

Per yesterday's Fleet Distribution News Bulletin, below is the latest information available for the 2014 Model Year... 03/11/2013 2014MY Order Bank Opens 05/02/2013 2014MY Scheduling Begins 06/03/2013 2014MY Job #1 Date The new Model Year order guides are usually released to Ford Dealers on or about the time that the USOB (Unscheduled Order Bank) opens.

Per yesterday's Fleet Distribution News Bulletin, below is the latest information available for the 2014 Model Year... 05/13/2013 2014MY Order Bank Opens 06/13/2013 2014MY Scheduling Begins 07/08/2013 2014MY Job #1 Date The new Model Year order guides are usually released to Ford Dealers on or about the time that the USOB (Unscheduled Order Bank) opens.

Per yesterday's Fleet Distribution News Bulletin, below is the latest information available for the 2014 Model Year... 05/13/2013 2014MY Order Bank Opens 06/13/2013 2014MY Scheduling Begins 07/08/2013 2014MY Job #1 Date The new Model Year order guides are usually released to Ford Dealers on or about the time that the USOB (Unscheduled Order Bank) opens.

Just curious... What is BNSF?

The X Plan price is non-negotiable as far as Ford is concerned. And as far as the "depreciation" on 2013 model... There is none until the vehicle is sold, delivered, titled and registered.

Ford does NOT convert retail orders to the following model year if they're not scheduled and built in the MY ordered. Dealers must submit new retail orders when this happens.

Attached is a copy of Monday's Commodity and Constraints Letter for the New York region. The content will vary from region to region but this copy will give you an idea of the issues that dealers deal with on a weekly basis in order to get vehicles scheduled. Hope this helps! Ford Commodity and Constraint Letter for March 7 Scheduling.pdf

I doubt it as the Fusion retooling at Flat Rock is on the separate assembly line previously used by Mazda which has nothing to do with Mustang production. I'd expect that Ford is being conservative with Mustang production plans prior to the launch of the all-new, next generation Mustang next year when they take the car "global" and anticipate a much higher (double?) production rate. In addition, for many months Ford has been sending 2013 Fusions to Flat Rock for additional quality checks, etc. before vehicles are shipped to dealers. And from what I've seen online recently, Ford is sending all-new Lincoln MKZ's to a Michigan plant for additional work, etc. which I expect is also at the Flat Rock plant which allows Ford to utilize the Flat Rock workers while they prepare for the Fusion Job #1 date.

FYI... Ford Dealers get a Commodity & Constraints Letter on Monday afternoon with scheduling preview reports on both Tuesday and Wednesday mornings so that Dealers can adjust their orders prior to the actual scheduling that happens on Thursday mornings. Dealers get the actual scheduling confirmations in their Ford "mail" Friday morning along with the VIN #'s for the scheduled units. As such, Friday is the best day to get answers from your Dealer regarding scheduling status.

No question that the Fiesta is very price sensitive as for most of those that my store sells, the profit margin is only a hundred dollars or so. Sure the difference in 5-speed and 6-speed manual transmission costs may be a factor but as gas prices continue to rise and the upcoming CAFE standards get tighter, Fiesta is a vehicle that Ford will need to better with.

For those that are interested, according to the current FDNB (Fleet Distribution News Bulletin) the Flat Rock plant has scheduled "Down" time for the following weeks. 05/06/2013 06/24/2013 07/01/2013 07/08/2013 07/15/2013

Here's the latest 2014 Fusion information available... 04/15/2013 2014MY Order Bank Open Date 05/16/2013 2014MY Scheduling Begins - Hermosillo Plant 07/17/2013 2014MY Scheduling Begins - Flat Rock 07/15/2013 2014MY Job #1 Date - Hermosillo Plant 08/26/2013 2014MY Job #1 Date - Flat Rock Plant There is no additional information available at this time regarding any changes for the 2014MY Fusion or about the vehicle production at Flat Rock.

Initial information for the 2014MY Fusion is that Job #1 at the Mexico plant is 07/15/2013 with Job #1 at Flat Rock set for 08/26/2013. Before anyone asks, there is no information available yet for the 2014MY and the 2014 Fusion Order Guide will not be available for several months yet! I'll post additional information as it becomes available.

Updated 2014 Mustang Order Guide as of 03/01/2013. 2014 Mustang Order Guide.pdf

That was my understanding also but it's still possible that it will become available later in the 2014 Model Year. Taking a very quick look at the 2014 Fiesta Order Guide, I was surprised that this all-new 2014MY Fiesta is still available with only a 5-Speed rather than a 6-Speed Manual Transmission other than the 6-Speed Automatic Transmission option.

No, the 2014 Explorer Order Guide has not yet been released but I'd expect only minor changes including a couple of new paint choices. Access to the FMCDealer communications portal has been down most of the day, I'm out of the office and don't have a copy of the model changeover schedule with me that would tell when the 2014 Explorer USOB (Unscheduled Order Bank) is scheduled to open. We met with our Ford representative today which included the "balance out" allocation for the 2013 Explorer which covers April and May production. If I remember correctly, the 2014 Explorer Job #1 date may be in June but I'll check tomorrow and try to remember to post updated information.

As of yesterday the 2014 Escape Order Guide still hadn't been released to dealers. And access to the FMCDealer communications portal has been down since about 9:00am EST today.

2014 Fiesta Order Guide 2014 Fiesta Order Guide.pdf

Per the Weekly Commodity & Constraints Letter sent to dealers yesterday... 2013 Fusion Titanium Hybrid orders, Retail or Stock, are now eligible for scheduling! In addition, the Fusion Energi is now eligible for Retail Order scheduling including both the Energi SE Luxury & Energi Titanium!

The rail car shortage is real and has affected all manufacturers for years now. Its affect on Ford depends somewhat on the vehicle line. Ford's coming out of the Chicago plant (Taurus, Explorer & Police Interceptors) don't seem to experience much in the way of delays nor do the Focus & C-MAX models being shipped from the two Michigan plants. Unfortunately, the Mustangs coming out of the Flat Rock plant have sometimes experienced considerable delays. For some time now, 2013 Escapes are arriving very quickly with an Order-to-Delivery time of only 4 weeks on average which is very fast! The Fiesta's out of Mexico are in transit after production for at least a month. All F-Series appear to have little or no delays along with E-Series or Expeditions. The industry is producing more vehicles than the rail cars have capacity for and there's also a shortage of car carriers that haul the vehicles from the rail ramps to the dealerships. Hope this helps a bit.

The Mustang accessories... side vents, spoilers, etc. are readily available through any Ford Dealer's parts departments. From my experience with the many Mustangs that our dealership has worked on, these parts are shipped primed but not painted. If your dealership has a good body shop department they're probably your best souce to provide you with the hood scoop installation you want. If you need a hood scoop that's not available directly from Ford your dealership should still be available to assist you with options available from the many other suppliers.

The 2014 Escape Order Guide has not yet been released to dealers. It should be available anytime now.

None of the GT Premium accessorary packages include a hood scoop. The various packages content is clearly stated in the order guide which your Dealer should have been aware of. The best option is to have one of Ford's aftermarket hood scoops installed.

Ford negotiates freight services directly with the rail carriers and the companies that haul the cars from the final rail destination to the dealerships. For a number of years all the vehicles headed to our store in CT were shipped by rail to a ramp in RI and then loaded on carriers for delivery to stores in CT. Last summer Ford started send everything to the Newark, NJ ramp and now the company (United Road) hauling the vehicles travels twice the distance to our store compared to Diversified Automotive which hauled the vehicle from RI. Diversified's drivers and equipment were the best I've seen in 27 years! The consensus from drivers I've talked to is that Ford found it cheaper to off-load the cars in Newark, NJ. What Ford actually pays to the rail carriers and transport companies is anyone's guess.