Allocation Spot and Scheduled for Production?

Woeo

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My dealer said this was the case when I was asking if my deposit was refundable if I cancelled. Said he didn't need to keep the deposit if someone cancelled since that would just mean he would get a car he could mark up.
If the dealer thinks he can get $5k in ADM he should be willing to return the deposit & pay you $3k to give up your spot.
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I suspect they really just THINK dealers will do that, not "know" it. I suspect many dealers might do it as well, but that doesn't mean ALL will. It'll be a deal-by-dealer decision. Although it sounds like Ford warned dealers not to hold open reservations that aren't intended to be follow through (like for instance Machdrop FEs that resulted in a 2nd order), so there may not be that many late cancels anyway.
IMO, the late cancelations are likely to be those who can manage to find a test drive of the car before years end then bail on the MME, and those who cannot test drive a car until their car actually arrives. The latter leaves the dealer with an actual car to sell, the former requires the dealer to do exactly what Ford is apparently telling them not to do.
 

Az MachE

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IMO, the late cancelations are likely to be those who can manage to find a test drive of the car before years end then bail on the MME, and those who cannot test drive a car until their car actually arrives. The latter leaves the dealer with an actual car to sell, the former requires the dealer to do exactly what Ford is apparently telling them not to do.
I totally agree with @Kamuelaflyer. The dealers can only have MME's produced and shipped to them that are in an Accepted Order status. It is when the dealer receives an ordered MME and the customer refuses to take delivery within 5 days, then the dealer takes ownership of the vehicle and can sell it off their lot for whatever they want , including well above MSRP.
 

dbsb3233

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I totally agree with @Kamuelaflyer. The dealers can only have MME's produced and shipped to them that are in an Accepted Order status. It is when the dealer receives an ordered MME and the customer refuses to take delivery within 5 days, then the dealer takes ownership of the vehicle and can sell it off their lot for whatever they want , including well above MSRP.
And I doubt there's gonna be a bunch of those. As you said, in order to get that far, the buyer had to have committed to an actual order. Reservation cancelling is one thing, but cancelling an actual order last minute is surely less common. Particularly for this vehicle as all indications so far say everyone that gets in one just loves it.

They'll always have a few people who's financing falls through, or they lost their job last minute, moved last minute, etc. So there will be some. But I'd guess there will be very few that wantonly turn down a Mach-E after finally getting to sit in it.
 

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I totally agree with @Kamuelaflyer. The dealers can only have MME's produced and shipped to them that are in an Accepted Order status. It is when the dealer receives an ordered MME and the customer refuses to take delivery within 5 days, then the dealer takes ownership of the vehicle and can sell it off their lot for whatever they want , including well above MSRP.
My dealer said this was the case when I was asking if my deposit was refundable if I cancelled. Said he didn't need to keep the deposit if someone cancelled since that would just mean he would get a car he could mark up.
Got a call from my dealer today, #2 on the MME tour list. Wanted to know if I was still going to buy the car. Seemed disappointed when I said yes. Said they would take car of X plan pricing when I pay for the car. They expect some delivery info next week.
 


Az MachE

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And I doubt there's gonna be a bunch of those. As you said, in order to get that far, the buyer had to have committed to an actual order. Reservation cancelling is one thing, but cancelling an actual order last minute is surely less common. Particularly for this vehicle as all indications so far say everyone that gets in one just loves it.

They'll always have a few people who's financing falls through, or they lost their job last minute, moved last minute, etc. So there will be some. But I'd guess there will be very few that wantonly turn down a Mach-E after finally getting to sit in it.
I would feel sorry for the person who lost their job and can no longer afford the Mach E. But after seeing it in person today at a local Phoenix dealer, I would definitely stand on a street corner with a sign that says "Will work for Mach E". There is no way I would give up and give away my ordered MME!
 

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I just received an email from my dealer that says: “Your Mach-E has been given an allocation spot and is scheduled for production.
I do not have the exact start date yet.” I’ve never heard the term “allocation spot” before. Has anyone else gotten an update?
My dealer called me to confirm details on 10-09-2020. He put it in the computer told me it was showing a build date in three weeks, which was end of October. This is for a premium RWD, ER, Infinite Blue. He also told me ship could be 1 day or 6 weeks.
 

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My dealer called me to confirm details on 10-09-2020. He put it in the computer told me it was showing a build date in three weeks, which was end of October. This is for a premium RWD, ER, Infinite Blue. He also told me ship could be 1 day or 6 weeks.
Not sure what to make of this. We have dealers saying FCTPs and FEs will be built in November and yours saying Premiums in October.
 

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Not sure what to make of this. We have dealers saying FCTPs and FEs will be built in November and yours saying Premiums in October.
They aren't mutually exclusive in the case of Premium FCTP's. The hard part I'm having digesting is that I know that there are Premium's with build dates (some in October, some November), but nada for FE's. Honestly, when I ordered an FE, I thought it meant that yes, these would be the first cars off the line and warranted the premium in price. Possibly arriving before seeing a demo car or even the possibility to drive it. Seeing cars start to show up at dealers, and the seemingly growing number of non FE's that have build dates, really makes you question if the FE distinction has been diminished.
 

ChasingCoral

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They aren't mutually exclusive in the case of Premium FCTP's. The hard part I'm having digesting is that I know that there are Premium's with build dates (some in October, some November), but nada for FE's. Honestly, when I ordered an FE, I thought it meant that yes, these would be the first cars off the line and warranted the premium in price. Possibly arriving before seeing a demo car or even the possibility to drive it. Seeing cars start to show up at dealers, and the seemingly growing number of non FE's that have build dates, really makes you question if the FE distinction has been diminished.
Actually, we've heard from a few FE owners who have build dates already. They're on other threads and earlier in this one. We hope most FE build dates will be issued later this week.
 

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They aren't mutually exclusive in the case of Premium FCTP's. The hard part I'm having digesting is that I know that there are Premium's with build dates (some in October, some November), but nada for FE's. Honestly, when I ordered an FE, I thought it meant that yes, these would be the first cars off the line and warranted the premium in price. Possibly arriving before seeing a demo car or even the possibility to drive it. Seeing cars start to show up at dealers, and the seemingly growing number of non FE's that have build dates, really makes you question if the FE distinction has been diminished.
I'm just going to mention that my dealer told me my build week is 11/23 on my FE. I think that is the same date as the OKTB date, and until I get a VIN and actual real build date, I am wondering if he has confused actual build with OKTB.
 

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Actually, we've heard from a few FE owners who have build dates already. They're on other threads and earlier in this one. We hope most FE build dates will be issued later this week.
Yep, but I thought they were limited to outside the US. Fingers still crossed. Hoping for Thursday, but expecting Friday.
 

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They aren't mutually exclusive in the case of Premium FCTP's. The hard part I'm having digesting is that I know that there are Premium's with build dates (some in October, some November), but nada for FE's. Honestly, when I ordered an FE, I thought it meant that yes, these would be the first cars off the line and warranted the premium in price. Possibly arriving before seeing a demo car or even the possibility to drive it. Seeing cars start to show up at dealers, and the seemingly growing number of non FE's that have build dates, really makes you question if the FE distinction has been diminished.
From what I can tell, I would say the general intent is that First Editions are among the first to be assembled but it's not exclusive. That would be practically impossible to manage logistically and if Ford were to attempt to do that, then all our cars would be pushed out at least 6 month further.

That being said, there is another issue that I am starting to recognize and that is how the dealers are reading the system. There is a process for placing orders for vehicles. It is multi step and has some similar language like Accepted, Allocated, Scheduled, Submitted, Sent, Invoiced, Produced and Released. Each represents a different part of the process even though they might sound the same to our ears.

If you were ordering an F150 or Explorer then the dealers are pretty good at following along with the process and can even predict with reasonable accuracy when it might arrive at their location.

With a new vehicle model like the Mach E, there are a bunch of new complications that most dealers aren't even aware of. The online reservation time stamp thing is a whole new process that pretty much threw a monkey wrench into the Accepted and Allocated processes. The Mach E Drop probably threw fuel on the fire a little bit as well. Then we had a worldwide pandemic that provided a bunch of new logistic issues and commodity restrictions.

If an inventory manager at the dealership interprets the information as if it were a current model already in production then expect a fair degree of confusion and misinformation through no real fault of their own. They are just going with previous experience and history. Some inventory managers have a better understanding of the Mach E ordering process, especially if they have a lot of orders in their system. Not necessarily because they are more competent but probably because they have more examples to observe. To add another thing to the mix.....I wager that very few dealerships even know about OKTB. I only learned about it here myself so it doesn't surprise me that the dealerships aren't including that into their analysis when they look at the data in their system.

And.....
Consider there are basically Retail and Non-Retail (stock) orders. For the purposes of this discussion about the MME....Retail is Converted Orders and Non-Retail is FCTP vehicles. However, there is a way to submit a retail order that will be included in the FCTP group but it requires someone in Dearborn to make the entry. Those orders can pretty much be any trim level (except GT of course) so expect a few to slip in with the FCTP and FE vehicles through this process. There are regional agents that represent a group of dealerships and it's basically their job to push the factory to meets the needs of their customers (the dealers). Some of these agents are more effective than others so the clever ones will be able to game the system to a small degree and have greater success for whatever their goals might be. Even so, we still have the date stamp thing as our "MME Police" so that is going to help minimize favors (abuse) quite a bit.

I would say that Ford is doing a pretty good job regulating the ordering process with their dealers and will provide information on a "need-to-know" basis for some things. This is a bit new but the dealers are getting the hang of it as each week passes. For example....once the vehicles are Sent to Plant....the invoice and Monroney sticker should be available but I seriously doubt that will happen here because the MPGe information is there and they are keeping that info close to the chest right now.

I hope this information helps and doesn't cause even more confusion than we have already.
to be super honest....the information shared here by those with insider information is the most reliable and useful stuff to digest. While your dealership may be well meaning......I recommend you take whatever they say about production timing with a grain of salt until these things start shipping. At that point it will be more typical of a process and they should catch up quickly.

Just my $0.02....
 
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I'm just going to mention that my dealer told me my build week is 11/23 on my FE. I think that is the same date as the OKTB date, and until I get a VIN and actual real build date, I am wondering if he has confused actual build with OKTB.
I think that is a valid possibility. You had a pre-Mach Drop FE conversion......correct?
Did your order form say Retail or Stock? If it looks like this then I would expect that your car is being assembled this week even though your dealer will see a 11/23 build date. Of course, in the end it doesn't matter because it will sit and wait for OKTB with the others.

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ChasingCoral

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From what I can tell, I would say the general intent is that First Editions are among the first to be assembled but it's not exclusive. That would be practically impossible to manage logistically and if Ford were to attempt to do that, then all our cars would be pushed out at least 6 month further.

That being said, there is another issue that I am starting to recognize and that is how the dealers are reading the system. There is a process for placing orders for vehicles. It is multi step and has some similar language like Accepted, Allocated, Scheduled, Submitted, Sent, Invoiced, Produced and Released. Each represents a different part of the process even though they might sound the same to our ears.

If you were ordering an F150 or Explorer then the dealers are pretty good at following along with the process and can even predict with reasonable accuracy when it might arrive at their location.

With a new vehicle model like the Mach E, there are a bunch of new complications that most dealers aren't even aware of. The online reservation time stamp thing is a whole new process that pretty much threw a monkey wrench into the Accepted and Allocated processes. The Mach E Drop probably threw fuel on the fire a little bit as well. Then we had a worldwide pandemic that provided a bunch of new logistic issues and commodity restrictions.

If an inventory manager at the dealership interprets the information as if it were a current model already in production then expect a fair degree of confusion and misinformation through no real fault of their own. They are just going with previous experience and history. Some inventory managers have a better understanding of the Mach E ordering process, especially if they have a lot of orders in their system. Not necessarily because they are more competent but probably because they have more examples to observe. To add another thing to the mix.....I wager that very few dealerships even know about OKTB. I only learned about it here myself so it doesn't surprise me that the dealerships aren't including that into their analysis when they look at the data in their system.

And.....
Consider there are basically Retail and Non-Retail (stock) orders. For the purposes of this discussion about the MME....Retail is Converted Orders and Non-Retail is FCTP vehicles. However, there is a way to submit a retail order that will be included in the FCTP group but it requires someone in Dearborn to make the entry. Those orders can pretty much be any trim level (except GT of course) so expect a few to slip in with the FCTP and FE vehicles through this process. There are regional agents that represent a group of dealerships and it's basically their job to push the factory to meets the needs of their customers (the dealers). Some of these agents are more effective than others so the clever ones will be able to game the system to a small degree and have greater success for whatever their goals might be. Even so, we still have the date stamp thing as our "MME Police" so that is going to help minimize favors (abuse) quite a bit.

I would say that Ford is doing a pretty good job regulating the ordering process with their dealers and will provide information on a "need-to-know" basis for some things. This is a bit new but the dealers are getting the hang of it as each week passes. For example....once the vehicles are Sent to Plant....the invoice and Monroney sticker should be available but I seriously doubt that will happen here because the MPGe information is there and they are keeping that info close to the chest right now.

I hope this information helps and doesn't cause even more confusion than we have already.
to be super honest....the information shared here by those with insider information is the most reliable and useful stuff to digest. While your dealership may be well meaning......I recommend you take whatever they say about production timing with a grain of salt until these things start shipping. At that point it will be more typical of a process and they should catch up quickly.

Just my $0.02....
At this point it looks like they will handle the mixing of models by interweaving FCTPs and FEs. At some point the FCTPs may trade off for customer Premiums. We just don't know if that will happen before the FEs are finished. As there are only trivial differences between Premium E4X and FEs, they will probably hold off on the Premium E4X production until the FEs are finished. That would be a pretty even trade with just a few part substitutions.

And there's build and then there's delivery.

The question is if they will hold other customer models in Cuautitlan while they ship out FCTPs and FEs first. I think that would be likely for any vehicles before OKTB and after that until the backlog is shipped out. If they are still making FEs when the shipping backlog is eliminated, some other models may precede some FEs out of the plant.

Of course, there's another option for shipping: They don't worry about order beyond filling trucks to single dealers and groups of nearby dealers. Even if they do worry about order, some other models may be slipped in for shipping efficiency.
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