The Car Business Is Changing

I work at a Ford dealer, We do have four new vehicles! Used lot has about fifteen or so. Busy in the shop which is good for me.
 
Hold off on any more internal combustion stuff. Have you seen the electric Ford F-150? Now THAT is worth waiting for!
 
We have tourists walking, taking the bus, and taxies to go places, rental cars 400.00 dollars a day, and no inventory. The mothballed fleet was decimated by rats, vandalism, dead batteries etc. I guess they cannot buy new for now with the chip issues. Is there a time line expected for the chips, and cars to start going again?
 
I can tell you that for our mfg’d products (not vehicles), our suppliers are looking at alternative substitutes for IC chips and we are having to purchase products in annual inventories to secure them. And lead times are six months or longer. We were ahead of this problem by about 2 months by our estimates. It sounds like the car companies were ahead of this by six months and we see how bad it is with them.

Long recovery is in front of us.


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rwm said:
This is rapidly degrading into a Chevy-Mopar-Ford conflict.
What color is your tractor??? ;)
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I have an orange diesel and an older Cub ! ;)

Around here , the lots are empty also . Neighbor bought the only Ram diesel truck that was on the lot . He also said only 4 used trucks were on the lot . When he told me the price , I dern near fainted . My sons both bought Yota Forerunners 2 years ago . They ARE worth more today than what they paid for them . Kinda crazy , wish machine tools went up like that ! :big grin:
 
Janderso said:
I've mostly worked for a Ford dealership off and on since 1975.
In that time we have seen a technical revolution.
We have seen Detroit's worst and finest.
Our frontline is empty, it runs along Highway 99 in Northern California. We usually carry well over 100 units, new and used. Mostly trucks and SUV's
We have (1) new Ford pickup for sale. We have less than 20 new and used combined.
Sales are robust! We just don't have the inventory.
Times are-a changing.
Without sales, we don't have used inventory coming through. The auctions are few and far between, it's just time to retire.
Thank God I'm close.
Click to expand...
Things have definitely changed and in a big way. I've been driving Fords since the late 1970's and was even a shop foreman at a local dealership for a short time. I loved the job, but it was in the late 70's when Ford changed from the body on frame to the unibody. Sales took a huge dump then, to the point that we went from selling nearly 100 cars a week to less than 30. My staff went from 24 down to 10 within 3 months. When the staff finally dwindled down to 6 I could see the writing on the wall. I knew it would be a matter of weeks or even days and I would be in the same boat. I was prepared for the worst and it finally came. I hope this isn't the start of a similar cycle.

Unfortunately that same Ford dealer is having problems similar to yours. They are getting less than 1/3 of the vehicles they order. Then again the current prices are also giving people pause. I purchased an Expedition last year and it was more than double the cost of the one I bought in 2010. The list price of a top of the line one was pushing 95,000.00. I saw one Navigator on the floor with a price tag even higher.

The electronics are beyond the point of reason. While it isn't a self driving vehicle it certainly wants to be. There are bells, whistles, beeps, buzzers and a myriad of other annoying noises every time the driver does something the vehicle doesn't like. Going through a construction zone (which is about 80% of the roads in our area right now) is a nightmare if half the systems aren't in override.

I love the vehicle, but the tailgate is a PITA. I can't count the number of times it's opened in my face, or hit me in the back of the head when errantly closing. I finally disconnected the under bumper antenna after it smacked me in the face while I was hooking up the trailer. The worst part is I let go of the trailer tongue and it rolled forward and hit the bumper. Now I have a big scratch in the paint. AAARGH.

Maybe it's time to rethink the electronics and only provide some of the more necessary functions.
 
It IS all of the fancy electronics that will keep me out of a new truck for a long time. If at all possible I refuse to buy a vehicle that can turn the steering wheel or hit the brakes all by its self, and I will hold out as long as possible. They already took away my gas pedal and I really don't like it, There have been cases where I needed power NOW and the computer had to think about it for a bit and then gave power more slowly than needed. One of which caused a crash where a stop sign runner just caught the last 6 inches of my back bumper, had the power been there when I asked for it I would have made it out of the way. Had the car noticed a problem and hit the brakes for me, it would have been a solid T-bone. Maybe it is because I am an ex stock car driver that I really notice the lag between input and output.

I don't need the car to drive for me, I am old and know how to drive and parallel park all by myself.
 
I have to admit, the fly by wire electronics are a bit concerning.
I think the biggest issue I have with todays vehicles are with the modules. Dozens of them.
What's going to happen when you need to replace a mirror, seat or body module and they are obsolete?
It's going to happen. We are already seeing it. When you pay $90,000 for a truck, you expect to drive it for a long time.
I would still be driving my 2002 F-150 to work everyday if it hadn't burned in the fire. 257,000 miles and it didn't burn a drop of oil.
I can't say with any confidence that these modules will be available in 10-20 years for that $90,000 truck.
It's all models and brands. The Denso or Ying-sa factory make the modules that go in darn near every car makers vehicles.
I remember seeing a relay in a GM product that was identical to a Ford part.
Hopefully someone will reproduce or repair some of the more popular little computers.
 
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