2013 Lincoln MKZ Launch Delays

[BORG]

Lincoln is in the middle of a huge and expensive marketing campaign for the MKZ, a car which is now a month overdue and not likely to go on sale before year's end. Is this botched timing?

 

My dealer just notified me that they have one in today (only) to take a look at. I won't be able to get in there, but it's starting to look like the MKZ just isn't in the cards for me. Which is fine, I'm being told there are some big problems holding up the launch so this is a car to avoid right now.

Edited December 26, 2012 by BORG

[aneekr]

Ford's latest production update bulletin shows estimated order to delivery times at up to 20 weeks for 2013 MKZ!

[Hugh]

What problems are you hearing BORG?

[probeGT]

Well, maybe better this way than having them catch on fire after being delivered.

[Stentgraft95]

What problems are you hearing BORG?

 

Yea, I too am interested in hearing more regarding what problems.

 

I ordered one on the 15th of December.

[RichardJensen]

The problem with reports like this is that they don't seem to correspond with problems after the launch.

 

For instance, the major problem with the Edge before launch was the door handles. The major problem after launch was the PTO seals.

[Extreme4x4]

Last night, while heading home from my Dads (in Mesa AZ), we saw a car carrier that had new MKZ's on it.

 

So, they are heading to dealerships as we speak.

[JasonM]

Posted on some site called Blue Oval News  

 

http://www.blueovalf...e/page__st__140

 

December 21, 2012

 

To: Lincoln Dealers

 

Subject: 2013 Lincoln MKZ Update  Good news! OK to Buy (OKTB) has been granted on the 2013 Lincoln MKZ. This means we will begin shipping vehicles to your dealerships in the next few days. We know you, and many customers, are anxiously awaiting the arrival of this significant new car from Lincoln.The purpose of this note is to update you on the MKZ production and shipping plans, and provide scheduling timing for verified retail orders.

Edited December 27, 2012 by JasonM

[SoonerLS]

Posted on some site called Blue Oval News

Oh, so you just read it on the Internet. For shame, Doc.

[xgman]

12 weeks since pre-order and still no build date for me.

[akirby]

Maybe your dealer doesn't have any allocation?

[xgman]

None of the preo-orders other than dealers orders are filled yet.

[Stentgraft95]

None of the preo-orders other than dealers orders are filled yet.

 

I still think patients is called for as we've been in plant shut down for the Holidays. The first of the year will see a thaw in delays without doubt.

[akirby]

I still think patients is called for

 

I tried to let this go the first time but I can't stand it any more. It's "patience". Patients are what you find in a hospital.

 

[/Pet Peeve]

[mike_in_va]

I think Ford's major sin here is not delaying the MKZ, that's only sensible given the concerns about quality. The problem is that they encouraged people to pre-order the car in the first place. I bring this up because I am a veteran of the Fiesta pre-order program of 2009-2010. I placed my order in December and by all accounts the car should have arrived in June, but after several weeks of delays I found out in early August it was sitting in a storage lot somewhere damaged. The dealer could not get any more info on what had happened so I canceled the order. Eventually I got another Fiesta out of dealer stock.

 

I was not the only one who had problems. In fact, so many people had problems that Ford sent out gift cards to people who were still waiting for their orders in July. I still have mine as a souvenir. I figured Ford would never try this pre-order thing again, but sure enough they did it again with the Focus and now the MKZ. And, sure enough, they are having similar problems.

 

By encouraging pre-orders Ford gives customers the false impression that they will be among the first to get a new car model when in fact they intentionally postpone building the pre-orders until after the first dealer-stock cars a built. Second of all, they know how bumpy a new car launch can be and that any expectation of a delivery time is not likely to be met. The chances of customer dissatisfaction in a pre-order are near 100%. So why does Ford still do it? My understanding is that by having customers make actual orders they get a better idea of what features and options people want and this helps dealers plan which models to stock. It's mainly a market research tool.

 

My advice to Ford is that it's not worth it. Whatever they gain from the research is cancelled out by the complaints when the cars are inevitably late. Ford should actively discourage customers from ordering vehicles before the Ok-To-Buy notice goes out, although they probably can't completely stop the practice.

 

My advice to everyone else is don't order a car (especially a Ford) that is not yet being delivered to dealers. You won't get your car any faster than if you waited for dealer stock and you will face numerous problems along the way.

 

I fear if nothing changes then the Mustang will be the next victim of this pre-order ridiculousness.

[akirby]

Or they could just make it absolutely clear that the ordered vehicle may not be delivered until at least 3 months after the job 1 date.

 

People want to pre-order vehicles whether they encourage it or not. The best solution is to manage expectations better.

[svtenthusiast]

I think Ford's major sin here is not delaying the MKZ, that's only sensible given the concerns about quality. The problem is that they encouraged people to pre-order the car in the first place. I bring this up because I am a veteran of the Fiesta pre-order program of 2009-2010. I placed my order in December and by all accounts the car should have arrived in June, but after several weeks of delays I found out in early August it was sitting in a storage lot somewhere damaged. The dealer could not get any more info on what had happened so I canceled the order. Eventually I got another Fiesta out of dealer stock.

 

I was not the only one who had problems. In fact, so many people had problems that Ford sent out gift cards to people who were still waiting for their orders in July. I still have mine as a souvenir. I figured Ford would never try this pre-order thing again, but sure enough they did it again with the Focus and now the MKZ. And, sure enough, they are having similar problems.

 

By encouraging pre-orders Ford gives customers the false impression that they will be among the first to get a new car model when in fact they intentionally postpone building the pre-orders until after the first dealer-stock cars a built. Second of all, they know how bumpy a new car launch can be and that any expectation of a delivery time is not likely to be met. The chances of customer dissatisfaction in a pre-order are near 100%. So why does Ford still do it? My understanding is that by having customers make actual orders they get a better idea of what features and options people want and this helps dealers plan which models to stock. It's mainly a market research tool.

 

My advice to Ford is that it's not worth it. Whatever they gain from the research is cancelled out by the complaints when the cars are inevitably late. Ford should actively discourage customers from ordering vehicles before the Ok-To-Buy notice goes out, although they probably can't completely stop the practice.

 

My advice to everyone else is don't order a car (especially a Ford) that is not yet being delivered to dealers. You won't get your car any faster than if you waited for dealer stock and you will face numerous problems along the way.

 

I fear if nothing changes then the Mustang will be the next victim of this pre-order ridiculousness.

 

Amen. I got burned on the pre-order of my 2012 Focus, which I waited for over a half of year. What made it worse is zero communication from Ford, and also zero communication from Ford to the dealers.

 

Then I pre-ordered my 2013 Escape, many rumors on the holdup, which ended up being a recall on the trim next to the gas pedal, but again Ford was being tight lipped and no answers why my vehicle was sitting in a holding lot.

 

The biggest slap in the face was in both instances, a dealer stock order showed up and sat unsold on the lots while I had been waiting for mine as long as I have.

 

They really need to re-evaulate their processes and communications as consumer satification has no where to go but down in these situations.

 

So I feel for all those who are patiently waiting, happens each and every time, just recently on the Focus ST which people waitied forever for them to come out with, then got hit with an additional delay on the ST3 package, because of the HID headlamps that come with that package. Seems to be a strong trend here that's not gettting any better nor they are learning from.

Edited January 1, 2013 by svtenthusiast

[BORG]

The dealers still don't have their cars and still can't sell them...so I'm not sure what good that December 21st date is right now. The Lincoln dealerships are understandably 'annoyed' right now, as they are all telling me. They are really hurting without the MKZ, especially at the end of the year. The MKX incentives are part of the appeasement and they've stuffed their inventories with them (works for me, although my MKX dealer trade fell-through so now I'm back to ordering).

 

Right now inventories are flush with Dealer Orders, but nobody has them. I don't know, this is really a cluster-f**** for Lincoln right now, most companies don't struggle and miss launch dates so significantly like this, but it's not at all surprising according to the people working there. Keep in mind of course that the MKZ was a delayed product if it launched in November, let alone January. But there is no denying that the hold-up is quality related and we know how important that is when re-launching a brand.

Edited January 2, 2013 by BORG

[akirby]

Most companies don't make such dramatic changes to so many vehicles at the same time and they don't hold products for inspection like Ford does. 5 new vehicles in the last 2 years - Focus, Escape, C max, Fusion, MKZ. 2 new engines - 1.6L and 2.0L EB. 2 new trannies - Powershift and hybrid cvt. A totally new hybrid drivetrain for the Fusion and Cmax. Plus a few MCEs and minor changes in all the other vehicles. That's a lot more than most companies have done in the same timeframe.

 

That said - they have totally screwed the pooch on the Fusion/MKZ launch and the Escape launch before that. It's possible that these problems were a known calculated risk based on getting products out the door as fast as possible, meaning they expected problems because they cut corners and decided that it was more important to get the products out. In that case they'll just change those decisions going forward. Otherwise these were actual screwups and if that's the case heads have probably already rolled to make sure this doesn't keep happening.

 

Either way I don't expect these types of problems to continue. If they do then I'll start to worry.

[BORG]

Most companies don't make such dramatic changes to so many vehicles at the same time and they don't hold products for inspection like Ford does. 5 new vehicles in the last 2 years - Focus, Escape, C max, Fusion, MKZ. 2 new engines - 1.6L and 2.0L EB. 2 new trannies - Powershift and hybrid cvt. A totally new hybrid drivetrain for the Fusion and Cmax. Plus a few MCEs and minor changes in all the other vehicles. That's a lot more than most companies have done in the same timeframe.

 

That said - they have totally screwed the pooch on the Fusion/MKZ launch and the Escape launch before that. It's possible that these problems were a known calculated risk based on getting products out the door as fast as possible, meaning they expected problems because they cut corners and decided that it was more important to get the products out. In that case they'll just change those decisions going forward. Otherwise these were actual screwups and if that's the case heads have probably already rolled to make sure this doesn't keep happening.

 

Either way I don't expect these types of problems to continue. If they do then I'll start to worry.

Ford's ambitions and product innovations are certainly a culprit, I can forgive most quality woes if they can deliver true innovation across the line, but you have to remember that this is a persistent problem at Ford, and the recent product delays are part of an effort to finally fix it. We've seen this before back with the 2007 Edge for example, along with every other Ford launched at the time, the cars went on sale when they were good and ready, not on the deadline. Ford became more deadline driven in the last few years and produced sloppy launches..which has been disastrous for their quality rankings and customer service. But ultimately Ford is producing highly complex products on a massive scale and the problems are isolated to small but critical areas. The entire vehicles aren't rattle traps made with substandard parts, they are all solvable in fairly short order.

 

I say this of course after struggling with MFT failures for the past two years...but keeping in mind that is the ONLY problem I have my car...which I think is pretty amazing considering what a complex machine it is.

Edited January 2, 2013 by BORG

[Extreme4x4]

I will say that the latest version of MFT seems to work pretty darn good. We have had no reboots, and no glitches that we know of. Everything is working as it should.

 

Funny thing. It has been so long since I have owned a vehicle with so much interior volume. It has been very cold here lately, and we have learned just how important that rear climate control is, to control the temp of the whole vehicle. If you don't have it going, the front will not truly be comfortable. Of course, it makes sense because of all of the glass.................. and open air.

[2b2]

Ford's ambitions and product innovations are certainly a culprit, I can forgive most quality woes if they can deliver true innovation across the line, but you have to remember that this is a persistent problem at Ford, and the recent product delays are part of an effort to finally fix it. We've seen this before back with the 2007 Edge for example, along with every other Ford launched at the time, the cars went on sale when they were good and ready, not on the deadline. Ford became more deadline driven in the last few years and produced sloppy launches..which has been disastrous for their quality rankings and customer service. But ultimately Ford is producing highly complex products on a massive scale and the problems are isolated to small but critical areas. The entire vehicles aren't rattle traps made with substandard parts, they are all solvable in fairly short order.

 

I say this of course after struggling with MFT failures for the past two years...but keeping in mind that is the ONLY problem I have my car...which I think is pretty amazing considering what a complex machine it is.

 

[hbalek]

Here is a dealer that has a 2013 MKZ to sell:

 

 

This is an interior color they call Hazelnut which I hadn't seen until now! That's definitely the color for me!

Edited January 2, 2013 by hbalek

[jpd80]

Most buyers who are genuinely considering a 2013 MKZ will see a car that's completely transformed over the outgoing model.

critics are being way too hard on this vehicle, it will refresh Lincoln's flagging MKZ sales and increase market perception.

[mike_in_va]

Here's another one. It seems they're arriving first in the west.

 

http://www.cars.com/go/search/detail.jsp?tracktype=newcc&csDlId=&csDgId=&listingId=105257265&listingRecNum==0&aff=national&listType=1

 

This is among the first I've seen with the base wheels. Still looks very good.