Ford is struggling

[Wheelin98TJ]

Facts!
We have a 2020 F150 that’s been in and out of two dealerships with transmission/4wd issues at 35,000mi….
Both the dealerships and FoMoCo have been horrible to deal with IMO.

My 2021 gladiator got a new transmission at 22k miles. My 2020 Ford got a new motor at 27k mikes. It happens.

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[Vincent]

My 2021 gladiator got a new transmission at 22k miles. My 2020 Ford got a new motor at 27k mikes. It happens.

Ugh!

 

[Imbuere]

I wonder if this will squash the "wonderful" idea of global supply chains

It already has. Look at the coming microchip Cold War. A lot of car manufacturers are now tlking about becoming more vertically integrated like Tesla.

 

[dcmdon]

Jim Farley (Ford's CEO) inherited this cluster-eff of execution from his predecessor.

He does seem to "get it". He's cracking down on dealer gouging and working to improve things operationally. But it all takes time. Ford clearly has an excellent product development team. Recent products have seen fantastic demand. Bronco, Mach-e, Maverick, and the new Ranger.

But as many of us know, they can't seem to deliver. Covid is partly to blame, but that's getting old. Farley has openly stated that Ford is failing in several ways. He's also working to reel in dealers who have been charging more than MSRP. We need to see how this works out, but I do believe they will figure things out.

As someone with a 2 year old reservation on a Wildtrack, Sas, Luxe, Bronco, I can tell you that I'll probably never actually turn it into an order. That ship has sailed. I've got a Gladiator with a Topper and much more room than the Bronco. It works better for me.

At some point, I may buy a 4cyl, 2 door, stick base truck, but that is off in the future.

 

[dcmdon]

It already has. Look at the coming microchip Cold War. A lot of car manufacturers are now tlking about becoming more vertically integrated like Tesla.

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) is the most important company that nobody has ever heard of. They make chips for Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidea, and AMD. Every CPU chip in every apple product is made by TSMC. They also make many of the chips in the F22, F35, various missiles and other munitions.

They are absolutely critical to the US economy and military defense. They make chips that nobody else can make.

It's for this reason that it was critically important that TSMC build a plant in the US. It's currently building several Fabs at its location in AZ, with total investment planned for 100 Billion dollars!!

Even if we have to subsidize TSMC to continue to build and develop in the US it's worth it. The US economy would crater if it lost access to TSMC products.

 

[Hootbro]

He's also working to reel in dealers who have been charging more than MSRP.

That remains to be seen. He is knee capped by the State dealer franchise laws since dealers are buying at wholesale, Ford corporate has very little leverage. They can threaten allocations but at the same time they want these same dealers to take the extra Ford Trucks that have been sitting in fields for close to a year waiting on parts.

Other than a few sternly worded letters that Jim Farley has sent to Ford dealers that has fallen on deaf ears, these Ford dealers are still charging premiums above MSRP for the Bronco and Mavericks in about all dealerships. Farley's push to make their EV division MSRP only orders and dealerships just "Delivery Centers" like Tesla is starting to get push back by Dealership lobby groups pushing state legislatures to outlaw that practice.

Jim Farley is in a tough position that I do not see much changing unless the various state franchise laws are crushed, dealership franchises bought out and new corporate owned "Delivery Centers" are built.

New mainly EV start ups like Tesla does not have to deal with this since they never made an investment in the tradition dealership franchise structure and has no sunken cost like the Big Three companies do.

 

[BearDog]

I'm not a Ford guy. My Dad would rightly say "You can't get one of them pos Ford's because they are falling apart right off the assembly line".

And...the Mav and Bronco are fugly ?

 

[Imbuere]

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) is the most important company that nobody has ever heard of. They make chips for Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidea, and AMD. Every CPU chip in every apple product is made by TSMC. They also make many of the chips in the F22, F35, various missiles and other munitions.

They are absolutely critical to the US economy and military defense. They make chips that nobody else can make.

It's for this reason that it was critically important that TSMC build a plant in the US. It's currently building several Fabs at its location in AZ, with total investment planned for 100 Billion dollars!!

Even if we have to subsidize TSMC to continue to build and develop in the US it's worth it. The US economy would crater if it lost access to TSMC products.

I‘ve certainly heard of them. I’d say them and the company that makes the machines in Europe are the most important companies in the world.

So important we’d go to literal physical war with China to protect them from invasion.

 

[dcmdon]

That remains to be seen. He is knee capped by the State dealer franchise laws since dealers are buying at wholesale, Ford corporate has very little leverage. They can threaten allocations but at the same time they want these same dealers to take the extra Ford Trucks that have been sitting in fields for close to a year waiting on parts.

Other than a few sternly worded letters that Jim Farley has sent to Ford dealers that has fallen on deaf ears, these Ford dealers are still charging premiums above MSRP for the Bronco and Mavericks in about all dealerships. Farley's push to make their EV division MSRP only orders and dealerships just "Delivery Centers" like Tesla is starting to get push back by Dealership lobby groups pushing state legislatures to outlaw that practice.

Jim Farley is in a tough position that I do not see much changing unless the various state franchise laws are crushed, dealership franchises bought out and new corporate owned "Delivery Centers" are built.

New mainly EV start ups like Tesla does not have to deal with this since they never made an investment in the tradition dealership franchise structure and has no sunken cost like the Big Three companies do.

I agree with a lot of this. Ford's options are limited in how they can punish dealers.

However, they have much more leeway when it comes to offering positive incentives. I haven't seen an analysis of teh contracts being offered to dealers for EV sales, but I'd be willing to bet that it includes language on ADM for both electric and non-electric vehicles.

I don't actually have a big problem with ADM. We exists in a free market economy. We expect to pay less than MSRP when supply exceeds demand and more when the opposite is true.

 

[AustinL911]

I‘ve certainly heard of them. I’d say them and the company that makes the machines in Europe are the most important companies in the world.

So important we’d go to literal physical war with China to protect them from invasion.

Yup, I think the company in Europe who makes the machines is ASML. Legitimately the only company who has the tech to make the machines that crank out semiconductors. China has been trying to steal, copy, or replicate the tech for years but has not been able to as of yet. Currently, their tech is like 5-10yr behind the US/TSMC. In tech years, that's orders of magnitude behind.

 

[Hootbro]

Yup, I think the company in Europe who makes the machines is ASML. Legitimately the only company who has the tech to make the machines that crank out semiconductors. China has been trying to steal, copy, or replicate the tech for years but has not been able to as of yet. Currently, their tech is like 5-10yr behind the US/TSMC. In tech years, that's orders of magnitude behind.

China home grown and manufactured semiconductors have a like 14%-40% defect rate which is abysmal. Hell, it took them until 2017 to master home manufacturing the small ball in a ballpoint pen.

China does not innovate, they can only try to copy or with theft of both IP and actual manufacturing machinery to even duplicate a somewhat suitable item of like quality.

 

[AustinL911]

China home grown and manufactured semiconductors have a like 14%-40% defect rate which is abysmal. Hell, it took them until 2017 to master home manufacturing the small ball in a ballpoint pen.

China does no innovate, they can only try to copy or with theft of both IP and actual manufacturing machinery to even duplicate a somewhat suitable item of like quality.

That's pretty sad, but not surprising at all.

I was joking with someone a couple months ago during the B-21 Raider reveal that China probably already has the plans for the thing. The US's current retarded DIE protocols probably stipulate that all Defense contractors have at least a couple Chinese nationals on the team, because we wouldn't want them to feel excluded.

 

[Orange01z28]

That remains to be seen. He is knee capped by the State dealer franchise laws since dealers are buying at wholesale, Ford corporate has very little leverage. They can threaten allocations but at the same time they want these same dealers to take the extra Ford Trucks that have been sitting in fields for close to a year waiting on parts.

Other than a few sternly worded letters that Jim Farley has sent to Ford dealers that has fallen on deaf ears, these Ford dealers are still charging premiums above MSRP for the Bronco and Mavericks in about all dealerships. Farley's push to make their EV division MSRP only orders and dealerships just "Delivery Centers" like Tesla is starting to get push back by Dealership lobby groups pushing state legislatures to outlaw that practice.

Jim Farley is in a tough position that I do not see much changing unless the various state franchise laws are crushed, dealership franchises bought out and new corporate owned "Delivery Centers" are built.

New mainly EV start ups like Tesla does not have to deal with this since they never made an investment in the tradition dealership franchise structure and has no sunken cost like the Big Three companies do.

Yeah, that collusion between dealership groups and government is what is keeping the model alive

 

[Orange01z28]

Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC) is the most important company that nobody has ever heard of. They make chips for Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidea, and AMD. Every CPU chip in every apple product is made by TSMC. They also make many of the chips in the F22, F35, various missiles and other munitions.

They are absolutely critical to the US economy and military defense. They make chips that nobody else can make.

It's for this reason that it was critically important that TSMC build a plant in the US. It's currently building several Fabs at its location in AZ, with total investment planned for 100 Billion dollars!!

Even if we have to subsidize TSMC to continue to build and develop in the US it's worth it. The US economy would crater if it lost access to TSMC products.

The plant they're building here is GIGANTIC

And you can see it on the way to the Backway to Crown King

 

[dcmdon]

The plant they're building here is GIGANTIC

And you can see it on the way to the Backway to Crown King

I bet it is. And what you are seeing is only the initial 15-20 billion phase one of the project.

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