Bronco production update 8/9: Commodity issues far beyond MIC tops. Chip shortage reaches Bronco supply chain (NO COVID TALK)

[Carolina Jim]

Firing Webasto would be good

A good START maybe.

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[basundy]

I say send mine out as is, do a warranty on it. I was going to buy the after market soft top anyway. It's been a few days shy of two freaking months now for God's sake!

Right? If it's not a safety issue, purely cosmetic, then I can handle that. They are going to have to replace the bad tops regardless of where they are anyways. Why not just give send them out to the customers? Make the people happy.

 

[ATLColonial]

I say send mine out as is, do a warranty on it. I was going to buy the after market soft top anyway. It's been a few days shy of two freaking months now for God's sake!

I mean this seems like the easiest solution, right? Though if Ford ships it then maybe they have to pay Webasto for it, and they don't want to do that.

Another solution would be, for 4 doors, to just slap a soft-top and provide a credit for when the hard top becomes available. For 2 doors, I guess only option is to go with one of the bestop options in the catalogue (seems silly now not to have a 2 door ragtop option). Either way, that's got to be cheaper than just writing off built units as lost and starting over, as some in here have suggested.

 

[SpringTXOR]

Honestly I plan on having my top off as much as possible, we got a lot of warm months in SE Texas!

 

[txozpilot]

Side note - You're from Australia ? - or maybe Kiwi ?

Firing Webasto would be good IMO. First eliminate problem source - then figure new plan -
First put out the fire - eliminate the fire-hose of problems -

Yes mate, expat Aussie.. Naturalized American, Proud of both
Webasto is definitely out. Let’s hope whoever they find to replace them can deliver in a timely and quality fashion

 

[Lucchese]

A good START maybe.

Yes more than likely the beginning of long wait - unfortunately -

Personally I would accept whatever crummy MIC hardtop they have right now - Just ship it !!
I'll sign a waiver - release Ford from any warranty claim - just ship the Bronco now - I'll patch-up the hardtop here. Then in few years I'll replace it -
Disposable - just like soft top -

But we know Ford won't do that - too many people would gripe -

 

[WhiteMamba]

The cost and logistics of sending tops out after production has to be absolutely terrible, there is no good way to ship these and even then freight companies will damage a ton of them. There is no profit in building these and shipping hard tops later.

 

[hozer]

Truly Ford can do whatever they want, but how they handle this is largely going to determine how successful their own future business model is.

They want to sell ordered vehicles, not lot ones.

99% of people on this planet can not sit waiting 18 months in the dark for a $50+k vehicle. I do not care how you slice it, whose side you want to defend, how homer we are all, how much we love Broncos, how much Jeeps are lame, how you should be saving etc...

Ford will not be successful at transitioning to an order model if they can not explain what the wait is on what is very obviously a problem with some portion of the build. The hype will go away and regular non-homers are not going to hang around for 18 months with 0 information

 

[mpeugeot]

If anyone is interested I made “Bad Batch” Bronco badges. Some folk over on 6/30 build date have already seen these

As much as I don't like the badges, I would totally rock a "Bad Batch" badge.

 

[basundy]

The cost and logistics of sending tops out after production has to be absolutely terrible, there is no good way to ship these and even then freight companies will damage a ton of them. There is no profit in building these and shipping hard tops later.

Products are manufactured and shipped daily. I don't buy that it is terrible process. This is the same company that ships out vehicle, parts, and accessories. This is a big boy company, they can handle it. Now, cost on the other hand, I would tend to agree. That should not fall on Ford or us as the customer. That should fall on Webasto. Ultimately, cost of a resolution is what is holding our Bronco's up. Profits are driving the hold up.

 

[Stroopaloop]

They aren’t holding you hostage, when the thing shows up do what you need to do and make them wait while you do it. You making this more difficult than it actually is.

Nah. I'm just expecting official communication. There's no excuse for Ford to not be over communicating at this point. Yes pandemic whatever. But what about customer service. How many dumb advertising emails have you got from ford since you reserved? And how many emails of substance have you received from them regarding your reservation? I don't want to know about the F150 lightning, or the PBR rodeo or stay pumped. I want to know what is holding up my bronco. I want to know what they are doing to fix the voucher issue for off roadeo. And "search this forum" is a Bs answer. You shouldn't have to. Some people have put thousands of dollars down for this truck. They have a right to be overwhelmed with information about their vehicle.

 

[mpeugeot]

Yes more than likely the beginning of long wait - unfortunately -

Personally I would accept whatever crummy MIC hardtop they have right now - Just ship it !!
I'll sign a waiver - release Ford from any warranty claim - just ship the Bronco now - I'll patch-up the hardtop here. Then in few years I'll replace it -
Disposable - just like soft top -

But we know Ford won't do that - too many people would gripe -

Quite honestly, I see the MIC hardtop as a limited lifespan item as well. There's no way that is going to survive 25 years (nor will most softtops with normal use) they are a 5-10 year wear item at best. It would be nice to get a good one, but personally, I would have rather been able to get the softtop for my 2 door and later pick up a used hardtop from someone else... Like I did with both of my Miatas.

I might add, the FE orders deserve priority with regard to a MY21 completion, for Ford not to service those would be absolutely horrible precedent. Sure, I am happy that my 2D OBX is built, but I certainly didn't think that I should have had priority over thousands of other people just because I happened to win the Bronco lottery.

 

[Ksjrb03]

The cost and logistics of sending tops out after production has to be absolutely terrible, there is no good way to ship these and even then freight companies will damage a ton of them. There is no profit in building these and shipping hard tops later.

This. They will shut the line down/stop MIC builds before they set themselves up for a mass top replacement program down the line. Purgatory Broncos will wait in MI.

 

[Lucchese]

Yes mate, expat Aussie.. Naturalized American, Proud of both
Webasto is definitely out. Let’s hope whoever they find to replace them can deliver in a timely and quality fashion

Absolutely, and good reason to be . . . Australia is great . . .

Yes Webasto out seems required first step. Personally I would accept whatever lousy MIC hardtop they have right now - as is -
But we know Ford won't do that - so have to find new supplier - quickly we hope -
Realistically . . we may be waiting a long time . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I wish Ford would give res-holders the option to accept whatever MIC hardtop they have right now - AS IS -

 

[SwankyTiger]

For 2 doors, I guess only option is to go with one of the bestop options in the catalogue (seems silly now not to have a 2 door ragtop option).

They have to sell a certain amount of hardtop 2 doors before they can sell soft top 2 doors, some federal reg.

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