4-6 months.
Same for my industry as well. We have work to do but it is taking MORE effort right now just to get the materials we need. Many places are just barely keeping it together it seems. It might be a rough winter....
I think it is 4-6 month or 4000 miles, whichever comes first.
Correct.
I expect that dealer allocations will open up after customer cars are scheduled. At that point, dealers can order cars for stock just like any other model.
There was another really interesting thing in this podcast that I had not thought about. That is that BEV's, if they are not AWD, should be RWD and not FWD. I am so used to FWD being superior here in the north with the weight of the engine over the front wheels, however with a BEV and the lower COG due to the pack, along with the instant torque from the electric motor, makes FWD not only unnecessary, but actually more difficult to control in a BEV. Instant torque creates instant oversteer.
You are taking everything out of proportion. You order a car in advance way before general availability, then accept that this is the way thing are going to be. Not only is not unique to Ford, this is the way product rollouts are done. The intention from the company's perspective is to ensure maximum impact when the product is available for sale. That means people who ordered early are going to have to wait. You might be frustrated, but marketing is done to maximize sales not to maximize information available to early adopters.I'm sorry, but that is flat out BS. The Ford Facebook nitwit has already shown TWICE that they've let the "professional" reviewers get their hands on the car, and unless a reviewer actually bought a car they won't have any more time by mid December than they will by OKTB in November. If they can't write a well considered article in 2 weeks they need to find another job.
Sorry, but Ford needs to cut the "hurry up and wait", stonewall, delay any decisions as long as possible nonsense.
Frankly EVERYTHING they've done relating to customers so far has been a screwup:
- Place an early reservation with us, but it won't mean a damn thing.
- There may be a lease, there may be incentives, there may be good rates and there might not. Check back with us sometime later... we're not sure when.. we just don't really know
- Hey, we've got a half assed scheme to sell more FE's, but it will literally take MONTHs to know anything about whether you got a car or not. We're not sure if you should cancel your existing order or not, because we aren't really sure if we are going to place an FE order for you. Enjoy playing the game of tag between the clueless Ford customer service people and the apathetic/incompetent dealer
- Hey, here's a cool app so you can set up your car - if you're lucky enough to get a VIN from your dealer. Oh wait, it's lame and badly written
- Make sure to learn the Fordpass app so you can do great things with your car like find charging stations and map routes. Oh wait, it's a buggy piece of crap too
- Hey, we're going to take a few cars around to dealerships, but not tell anyone about it. While you're there, you might get a ride or you might not. You'll have to go there to find out. Oh, and the webapp to make reservations is a badly written piece of crap
- Want to know the status of your car? great, go to out web app to see. Oh wait, you're dealer coopted your reservation? too bad, all you get to see is your dealer's contact info because the webapp is a buggy piece of crap
Apologize for the rant, but Ford needs to get out of its own way. It's not 1965 any more.
And here's what I see after getting a VIN and a build date:
Its going to be interesting to see if dealers get any allocation in Model Year 2021.
Yes it will. I think most of the remaining 2021 models will be customer cars and some of those will end up as dealer stock if the customer doesnt end up taking delivery for whatever reason.
Keep in mind that there still a number of states that do no allow for direct manufacturer to customer sales of motor vehicles.
