ice-capades

Ford gave notice in Friday's DNB (Distribution News Bulletin) that Navigation System supply was increasing faster than expected and that the navigation commodity hold has been lifted with the navigation option available for scheduling immediately, for all vehicle lines, at free demand!

Just curious as to whether you contacted your Dealer requesting your vehicle's status information? If not, they can provide you with all of the information. Unfortunately, this may be another example of a Dealer not able or willing to provide a customer with information on their ordered unit.

2012 Mustang Order Guide (Updated 08/01/2011) 2012 Mustang Order Guide.pdf

I do not work for Ford Motor Company. For the past 25 years I've managed the new vehicle inventory for Bob Thomas Ford (CT) in addition to running the in-house advertising agency representing Bob Thomas' various companies. Regarding your paint question... I have not seen anything about Ford re-instating availability of Lava Red Metallic (UZ). The original Red Candy Metallic Tinted Clearcoat (U6) has been replaced with the new version (RZ) and the Sterling Grey Metallic (UJ) is being re-instated with a "Late Availability" status. Final order for Yellow Blaze Metallic Tri-Coat (NQ) were due on Thursday, July 21st. Kona Blue Metallic (L6) continues continues to be available but is subject to availability updates and estimates on a weekly basis.

The 2012 Mustang USOB (Unscheduled Order Bank) opened on 11/08/2010, scheduling started on 12/02/2010 and the Job #1 date was 02/03/2011. Ford has not yet started posting any timetables for 2013 MY ordering or production. By law the 2013 Mustang cannot be available for sale prior to January 1, 2012. I'd expect to see a 2013 MY Job #1 Date in February 2012.

The only rear axle available on the GT Convertible (6-Speed Manual) is the 3.31 ratio. The 3.55 and 3.73 ratios are optional on the GT Coupe's only!

Like many others, I'm very glad to see Ford reinstating the Sterling Grey Metallic (UJ) but it is only listed as "Late Availability" in the newly updated 2012 Mustang Order Guide. Whether it will be available for September production remains to be seen. 2012 Mustang Order Guide.pdf

I got a Kona Blue 2012 Mustang GT Premium Coupe scheduled for a retail customer the other day... #401A w/6-Speed Manual, Charcoal Black Leather w/Grabber Blue Accent, 3.73 Ratio Axle and every other option except the Electronics Group and Glass Roof options. The vehicle is scheduled for production the 1st week of August. I haven't seen the Lava Red Metallic (UZ) but have to wonder how many red colors we need as we already have the Race Red (PQ) and Red Candy Metallic Tinted colors. If anything, I'd like to see Ford bring back the Sterling Grey Metallic for the Mustang which has traditionally been so popular.

At our CT Dealership the White Platinum Metallic Tri-Coat (UG) has accounted for about 75% of Explorer sales to date. Otherwise there have been a couple of Bordeaux Reserve Red Metallic (FQ), Ingot Silver Metallic (UX) and Sterling Grey Metallic (UJ) and one or two Black (UA). There's only been one Golden Bronze Metallic (JQ) delivered which was a retail customer order. I'll never order the Golden Bronze for stock after seeing it.

A lot of the issues discussed here are out of the control of the Dealers. Ford is doing what it can to address the commodity issues and revised its ordering system to give customer retail orders the highest priority. Ford generates numerous reports on a weekly basis to keep Dealers informed of commodity issues in order to assist them in getting retail orders scheduled. Shipping delays are another matter and involve contracted carriers that are dealing with equipment shortages and mechanical failures along the way including both rail and land carriers. Order-to-Delivery times for the Mustang are the worst for several years now. Ford's quality standards have a very high priority and no vehicles will be delivered to Dealers if they don't meet the quality specifications. At times, Ford will recall vehicles already in transit and send them back to the plant to be re-inspected if they are even suspect as to quality concerns. The end result is delivering a better quality product to both the Dealer and to the retail customer. Dealing with the communication issues between a Dealership and the retail customer waiting for an ordered vehicle is a whole different issue. Ford provides multiple resources to Dealerships but its up to the Dealers to use those tools to communicate order status information with its customers. For the Ford enthusiast with a vehicle on order, contact your sales representative whenever you want and then the sales manager or Dealer Principal if necessary to get the information you want or need. Your Dealer has the information but it's beyond Ford's control as to how its Dealers communicate with the end customer. Ideally, Ford would institute a policy of expediting scheduling of all retail orders, regardless of a Dealer's allocation, but I'm told that Ford will not do this as it would be too disruptive to the scheduling process. At best, Ford would provide a more public tracking system that would allow customers to track their vehicle order progess, status, etc.

Being able to hire additional UAW workers at the lower tier wage rate can only help Ford with the profit rate on the Focus, especially as it's getting ready to bring the 2nd Focus plant online soon along with additional Focus models.

This question should be posted in the Fusion Forum but I'll answer it here anyway. The Job #1 date for the 2012 Fusion Hybrid is 11/01/2011 which is also the expected date for the Navigation System availability. The availabilty for retail orders is not clear at this time as Ford's practice lately is to restrict scheduling to stock orders only until they reach the "OK to Buy" status which is part of Ford's quality commitment.

There's another benefit. If the vehicle is going to be used in a parade with people sitting on the top!

The are no incentives available on the Mustang Shelby GT500!

If you have a VIN number your vehicle is scheduled to be built as ordered. For additional information, I'm including the related information that was published in last week's Commodity and Constraint Letter for July 7th Scheduling. Navigation System Update During July Production, only Retails orders equipped with a Navigation System (58N) are eligible to schedule. Further, the following F150 configurations are no longer available with a Navigation system (58N) when ordered for RETAIL OR STOCK: FX2/FX4 orders Lariat orders King Ranch orders Platinum orders Navigation system (58N) is still available on Harley Davidson retail and stock orders. The lack of Navigation Radio has increased the demand for 6-disc CD players faster than the supply base can respond. We are now also facing a short-term constraint on 6-disc CD players on F-150. A change has been made to make the 6-disc CD player standard on all orders with the FX Luxury Package and all Lariat Models. The single CD (585) will be made optional on these units and will include the $100 adjustment. Also, Sony 6-disc CD (58B) is available.

Congrat's to those that have been able to take delivery of their factory ordered Mustangs! Our store just received 2 retail Mustangs yesterday morning that customers have been waiting for. Fortunately both cars (2012 Mustang GT Coupe & 2012 Mstang Shelby GT500 Coupe) were received with an order-to-delivery time of about 8-10 weeks which is unusual as customers usually wait at least 12 weeks. We're in the Mustang selling season and for the past 3-4 months Ford will schedule ONLY retail Mustang orders. There was a period where Mustang inventory was high due to a lot of leftover 2011 Mustang inventory and the early 2012 Mustang introduction but a lot of the extra Mustang inventory has been sold now. Our store has only (1) Mustang in stock and normally sell at least 3-4 per month but we can't get Mustangs from Ford for stock and have to either place retail orders or buy Mustangs from other dealers. I normally drive a Mustang as my company vehicle but my last "Demo" was sold a month ago and we haven't been able to get a Mustang from another dealer yet. On average my "Demo" vehicle sells within 3-4 months. No sympathy expected here. I'm just sharing this as I've managed the dealership's new vehicle inventory for 25 years and my company "Demo" is a big perk. The point is that Ford is being too conservative in its inventory plans. How do dealers sell what they can't get from Ford?

Updated 2012 Fusion Order Guide attached. Navigation System is late availability with a Job #1 date of 11/01/2011. 2012 Fusion Order Guide.pdf

Updated 2012 Focus Order Guide attached. 2012 Focus Order Guide.pdf

Unfortunately, it's all too common for sales representatives and dealers to quote 6 week order-to-delivery timetables. I try to communicate the realistic timtables, which vary depending on the vehicle line, commodity/option availability issues, etc. on a regular basis. I understand your frustration as I'm the one that manages the vehicle order bank at my dealership and often talk to customers with retail orders.

Updated 2012 Explorer Order Guide attached. 2012 Explorer 4-Door Order Guide.pdf

Updated 2012 Expedition Order Guide attached. 2012 Expedition Order Guide.pdf

Updated 2012 Escape Order Guide attached. 2012 Escape Order Guide.pdf

Our store missed its sales objective (set by Ford) for June because we didn't have enough inventory to meet customer demand. Ford is being far too conservative with its inventory planning for many vehicle lines. We have only (4) 2012 Focus, (2) 2011 Fiesta, (4) 2011 Fusion, (1) 2012 Mustang, (2) 2011 Taurus, (4) 2011 F-150 units in stock and are trying to buy additional inventory from other dealers to help meet customer demand. July is already looking difficult as most of our scheduled inventory won't start arriving until early August! This is 3 years now where we've run out of inventory during the summer selling season. Since May, Ford's own reports show us with about a 20-day supply of vehicles! Fiesta sales are consistent but the order-to-delivery time is long due to shipping time. The 2012 Focus is doing great but there isn't enough inventory in stock to sell from. Nearly half of our 2012 Focus sales are for vehicles in the $24-26,000 range, mostly 5-Door Hatchbacks. Mustang is a disaster as we have only (1) 2012 Mustang in stock, no 2011 Mustangs and for the past 3-4 months Ford will schedule ONLY retail Mustang orders. We normally stock at least 25 Fusions, were selling at least 14-16 per month but are down to 4 in stock. Our Taurus numbers are improving each month and we need more inventory to grow the numbers further.

The 2012 Edge Order Bank opened on 06/20/2011 with scheduling to start next Thursday, June 30th!

2012 Edge Order Guide 06/20/2011 2012 MY Edge Order Bank Opens 06/30/2011 2012 MY Edge Scheduling Begins 08/08/2011 2012 MY Edge Job #1 Date 2012 Edge Order Guide.pdf