Ford F-150 Order Bank Opening Soon – Poor Timing?
Tim Esterdahl | Jul 22, 2014 | Comments 12
Sources tell us, Ford is planning on opening its order banks on the new 2015 F-150 in the coming weeks. This move creates some interesting product timing issues for the new truck. As one of the most scrutinized truck launches in recent memory moves forward, is Ford making the right decisions?
Ford will open the order banks for the new 2015 F-150 in the coming weeks. This could lead to a truck launch in the middle of winter.
Ford is planning to open the order banks for the 2015 F150 over the next two weeks. Generally, this happens 3-4 months before production begins (more commonly 3 months).
The most ambitious plan would be that Ford starts building F150’s in the middle of October…that’s 6 or 10 weeks later than they would choose.
Worst case (which assumes a 4 month wait and 2 weeks of additional delays) is that they don’t start until December!!
Ford is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
- They can’t delay the F150 more than a few weeks without launching in the dead of winter (not a good time to launch a vehicle).
- They also can’t delay because it could screw up their sales title…GM is always close behind Ford in terms of total volume when you add Chevy and GMC. If GM senses that the title is within their grasp, I fully expect them to crank up incentives.
Finally, this is probably bad news for the people who buy the very first 2015 F150s. Instead of having a few weeks to hold inventory and double-check everything, Ford is going to have to put the trucks on railcars and ship them to dealers as soon as they roll off the production line…it’s highly likely there will be stupid little problems and mistakes. SexeDate
To sum up, Ford hasn’t botched the 2015 F-150 launch yet, but their margin for error is very very small now. Even a short delay could be a source of embarrassment.
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Filed Under: Auto News
Wow and I thought I was genius waiting one full year for my 2011 F150 EcoBoost before I got one; just hoping they got the “bugs” out – NOT!
You NEVER buy the first year of anything Ford makes. Learned that one the hard way. But with that said in comparison to other pickup trucks this thing is gonna be like the Starship Enterprise. If Ford can sell this thing at a reasonable price and work the bugs out in a short time they’ll make a mint. My Tacoma 4cyl access cab weighs 3700lbs. A full size CC @ 4400. That’s unbelievable.
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-.....lb-ft.html
http://www.autoblog.com/2014/0.....-ecoboost/
This forum sure talks a lot about Ford (and other) trucks. If I want to read news about these other trucks I’ll go to their forum.
Owen,
We try to cover the entire truck industry as it applies to Tundra buyers. With all the buzz around the new F-150, we continue to get information about it from our Ford sources. We feel this information is interesting to Tundra fans/buyers.
-Tim
“Instead of having a few weeks to hold inventory and double-check everything, Ford is going to have to put the trucks on railcars and ship them to dealers as soon as they roll off the production line…it’s highly likely there will be stupid little problems and mistakes.”
Stupid post and seems like you just want to bash on Ford and other trucks. How about reporting on Tundras or at least posting factual info?
Chris,
I see your point. This blog, though, has consistently made its mission to talk about other trucks AND the Tundra. Our readers have told us they want to hear what is going on with other trucks and manufactures. As I said in a previous comment, the buzz around the new F-150 is immense. We feel our readers want to know this information.
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.
-Tim
Tim,
You are correct, Tundra is in the context of all the other trucks on the market. Information about the others clearly shows the directions of what will follow for Toyota when something as big as the aluminum F150 comes along.
You have a good forum here.
You are not just reporting information, but making false claims. The QC team will be all over this launch.
A QC Team at Ford? Now that is real NEWS.
Chris,
Settle down. We didn’t make any “false claims.” We merely pointed out what may happen in one scenario.
-Tim
4400-lb kite!!! It will be all over the place.
Yes, the weight aspect is interesting in regards to towing. This truck will rely on it’s trailer brakes more than others. As a daily driver I bet it handles wonderfully!