Ford to boost production of its most affordable models

[akirby]

48 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

 

Your comment referred to when Bronco came out there were crazy ADMs so Ford raised prices to equal that - dealers still put ADMs above those increases.  Maybe those have come down and reversed now, but there was a time where that was true.

Why not lower prices again and get rid of incentives?

If they did it wasn’t for long.  Bronco prices quickly went back to MSRP except for a few dealers that stuck to their ADMs but they didn’t sell many.

 

The incentives are due to a glut of inventory.  Once inventory is reduced they’ll cut back on production and reduce or eliminate the incentives.  If that is t enough then they’ll reduce prices but not all at once.  They’ll do small reductions or hold prices and let inflation catch up.

[Motorpsychology]

12 minutes ago, Sherminator98 said:

 

So I'll share this story-

 

My Wife bought her 2017 Escape and her 2024 Bronco Sport off the lot, at price she had budgeted for them. She isn't super picky about her cars and said to me I know I'm killing you right now because I special order my vehicles to what I want in them and like bells and whistles in them. 

 

So there are a decent amount of buyers out there that purely buy on price/affordability. The other issue is that majority of basic options are very well covered by base models...this isn't the old days of AM only radios and hand crank windows. You might not get a push button start or remote starter (but can use the app instead) on a base model, but the vast majority of must haves when it comes to safety/functionality are covered by lower end models. 

 

I went through this myself when I spec'd out my Bronco-I was looking at a Outer Banks originally, but I wasn't a fan of the painted handles and mirrors and spending an extra $5K for stuff I really didn't need or use regularly. 

We just went through this earlier this month when we ordered an Explorer to replace our 2009 Mariner (what, already?). Shout out to KCAP where it was built: rust free and no major repairs for 16 years.

 

Anyway, she liked the ride and the view out of it, and as long as whatever car had heated cloth seats and a bench second seat, the other options didn't matter, and she insisted on red. Well, the Active is not available in red, so we ordered an ST-Line. with the 35-30-35 second row. Even though that is the standard configuration, alll the Rapid Red ST-L's within 150 miles had the no-cost optional buckets. It has a build date of March 3rd, so everybody on the line at CAP get good sleep the night before, lol!

[jpd80]

31 minutes ago, akirby said:

If they did it wasn’t for long.  Bronco prices quickly went back to MSRP except for a few dealers that stuck to their ADMs but they didn’t sell many.

 

The incentives are due to a glut of inventory.  Once inventory is reduced they’ll cut back on production and reduce or eliminate the incentives.  If that is t enough then they’ll reduce prices but not all at once.  They’ll do small reductions or hold prices and let inflation catch up.

Before Christmas, Ford’s inventories appeared to have loads of high priced higher trims,

so it looks like Ford maintained that build profile for too long going into a slowing market.

Agree with your read, adjust build profile going forward to include more lower affordable trims

that aren’t strippers but have nice features buyers want. While those filter through, offer strong

incentives to higher series already on lots, either big cash incentives or killer lease deals.

[Sherminator98]

1 hour ago, Chrisgb said:

We just went through this earlier this month when we ordered an Explorer to replace our 2009 Mariner (what, already?). Shout out to KCAP where it was built: rust free and no major repairs for 16 years.

Yeah that gen really suffered from rust in the wheel wells. My Wife 2010 had some rust when we traded it in.