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

[Rlack75]

Don't believe it till it is on a train or truck, and they have the #.

Don’t believe it until it is in your driveway!

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[RogueSqdn]

It's funny how people hate dealers and think they have no clue what they're talking about until they tell you what you want to hear. He likely has good intentions, but probably doesn't have the latest info from Ford.

Dealership is owned by a family member, so like I said, I believe him.

Also like I said, I agree he might not have accurate information.

 

[Biggwrm]

Hey guys, I'm alive and well. I taught our band camp last week, 14 hours a day Mon-Fri. I was quite busy.

A blacked out Transit didn't abduct me in the middle of the night or anything.

Things are not great. Commodity issues far beyond the MIC tops have exploded, the chip shortage has finally reached the Bronco supply chain, and nobody really has any good answers at this point. As bad as the issues have been up to this point, this is worse.

Things are so fluid and changing so quickly, by the time I get scraps of new info it's quite likely outdated. If there's one little glimmer of good news, it may just be that the planned volume and availability of the dealer stock 4 door soft top units is quickly trending downward. After all, you can't build the "less desirable" units if you can't build anything at all.

Edit to add: My inbox is crammed with a metric ton of unread messages. If you're waiting on a reply, I'll try to get thru those in the next few days.

Q&A



In all honesty, FE reservation holders are the only ones who should feel super confident about much of anything at this point.

You're good.



To my knowledge, none of the purgatory holds are waiting on chips. MAP hasn't built any Broncos without chips awaiting further installation as other Ford plants have. I've heard of some proposals but nothing that's started yet.



No, emphatically. Hasn't happened, isn't happening, won't happen.


Update 8/10:

LOTS of discussion here, and some of the options being brought up jive with *possibilities* being considered. AFAIK, there isn't a firm decision one way or another. All FEs will be built out in MY21 (and honestly those still awaiting a VIN and scheduling shouldn't be waiting too much longer). Some more MIC MY21s are probably going to be built, but I doubt we'll see them any appreciable numbers.

The main thing to watch is scheduling both this week and next (assuming they both end up happening as scheduled). How many members here will see their non-FE MIC units scheduled? If we see many (any?), that's a decent sign. I don't think we will.

Another kick in the sack is that from everything I've been told none of the purgatory units are awaiting any type of inspection any longer. They're just stuck waiting on solution(s).

I've caught wind of several alternatives being considered... some more drastic than others.

Thanks for the update!
How long has it been taking for peoples builds?
My FE has been “in production” since 7/23
Thought I had seen it taking like 2days.
Im assuming its in hold for parts? Surprised they would start without having everything available tho

thanks

 

[Biggwrm]

Thanks for the update!
How long has it been taking for peoples builds?
My FE has been “in production” since 7/23
Thought I had seen it taking like 2days.
Im assuming its in hold for parts? Surprised they would start without having everything available tho

thanks

Apologies all.. im realizing after reading more pages, this is a common ask. Ill just wait like everyone else

 

[Dads_bronze_bronco]

I don't know - if you have a MY21 (without issues, of course), it's going to always be a rare bird now. Getting more rare by the minute, it seems. There will be a market for 21s for quite a while, IMO.

All those FEs with questionable quality Webasto MICs … infuriating I’m sure.

 

[NateDogg]

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.

But that’s cheaper than sending every reservation holder a 22lb package fedex, plus the cost of the merch, and get nothing from it except more pissed off Canadians? Cost benefit is easy on this. They get paid for a vehicle, minus the cost of the top that Webasto is probably covering anyway since Farley is cracking down on supplier related warranty issues. 50% of these will be on the used car market anyway by the time there’s enough capacity to ship to people that already paid Ford. Put soft tops on and roll them out the door.

 

[Bronc-O]

Dealership is owned by a family member, so like I said, I believe him.

Also like I said, I agree he might not have accurate information.

That was my point. I f the info isn't accurate, it's worthless.

 

[moejoe34]

@PREMiERdrum - any thought to Ford shipping MICs to dealers with “bad” tops and doing an extended warranty campaign on them? I have to imagine this would be easier than replacing them through MOD centers at MAP and taking up all that room.

 

[PREMiERdrum]

@PREMiERdrum - any thought to Ford shipping MICs to dealers with “bad” tops and doing an extended warranty campaign on them? I have to imagine this would be easier than replacing them through MOD centers at MAP and taking up all that room.

Not likely, which is the biggest holdup right now. The backlash for widespread delivery of shitty tops compounded by the freight costs to deliver thousands of new tops and payouts to dealers for installing them... it's not a path they want to go down. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly.

 

[BroncoBoy22]

I wish I could be a fly on the wall in the Ford exec meetings about this haha.

I’m hoping by some miracle this speeds up MOD top production

 

[kbBronco]

Not likely, which is the biggest holdup right now. The backlash for widespread delivery of shitty tops compounded by the freight costs to deliver thousands of new tops and payouts to dealers for installing them... it's not a path they want to fo down. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly.

Wheels, officially off the track.

 

[moejoe34]

If they would like to guinea pig a campaign to deliver 2-door soft tops I guess I’ll volunteer

 

[basundy]

Not likely, which is the biggest holdup right now. The backlash for widespread delivery of shitty tops compounded by the freight costs to deliver thousands of new tops and payouts to dealers for installing them... it's not a path they want to go down. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly.

seems like switching to soft tops and refunding for mic via points or striking it from window sticker seems somewhat logical….right?

 

[chtucker]

Not likely, which is the biggest holdup right now. The backlash for widespread delivery of shitty tops compounded by the freight costs to deliver thousands of new tops and payouts to dealers for installing them... it's not a path they want to go down. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly.

Uh boy

 

[imaginager]

Not likely, which is the biggest holdup right now. The backlash for widespread delivery of shitty tops compounded by the freight costs to deliver thousands of new tops and payouts to dealers for installing them... it's not a path they want to go down. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly.

Any idea how many resignations have occurred, to date, due to the issues with the MIC hardtops?

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