This has become boring and depressing.

[Jdc]

I'm working at RoadAmerica next week and they'll have a Mach-E there, but of course no Bronco. Hell, the road trip dealer shows barely remembered Wisconsin exists; they just got lost leaving Chicago and spent a few days in Milwaukee

What's a "Wisconsin"?

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[Nickp]

To save me searching, what is the target date for first real customer Bronco rolling off the line, and for a customer actually receiving that Bronco? Do we have a set date yet, for either of those?

I would bet on the first customer deliveries actually happening in mid July.

 

[Ksjrb03]

[
I spent a few minutes googling and couldn't find this memo. I found tons of forum posts complaining about this in a very circular way, but no actual source material. Maybe you know more.

Maybe it is fact that the tops will delay the delivery, maybe it is more rumor, but as of today...nothing is delayed because Ford is still on track to meet their end of Spring, beginning of Summer delivery start. Like it or not, they are on schedule, contrary to the chicken little prognosticators on the forum.

Yes, I am glass half full.

No rumor about it, the hard tops are absolutely the issue. Nobody will get a Bronco by end of Spring. Yes some will get them during the summer, but 100 Broncos a day during the summer is not what they planned but it gets a few out there I guess. Most of us will be waiting a while.

 

[Razorbak86]

On 12/15/20 and 1/15/21, Ford announced the order timeline, the notification of delivery timeline and the actual delivery timelines.

So far, Ford is pretty close to what they communicated in those announcements. I don't know what is rumor vs fact relative to Wabasto, and I don't care.

Is this true though? Where is the source that says there is a shortage of tops or there is a supplier issue delivering tops?

It seems this is a rumor or information that has been taken as fact.

This clearly falls in the "rumor" column.

Again, I don't know if there are or are not issues with the MIC top. How about we let Ford work the timeline they have very clearly communicated to people?

Folks are beating Ford up for delays that haven't even occured. Multi million dollar projects are messy and can have issues. Some issues get resolved and the client never knows. Some need to be addressed with pivots and tweaks. Such is life.

Maybe it is fact that the tops will delay the delivery, maybe it is more rumor, but as of today...nothing is delayed because Ford is still on track to meet their end of Spring, beginning of Summer delivery start. Like it or not, they are on schedule, contrary to the chicken little prognosticators on the forum.

There have been numerous external press articles over the last 6 months discussing problems with the hard top supplier (Webasto) and the ensuing delays to the Bronco production timeline:

• Muscle Cars and Trucks — December 9, 2020
• Ford Authority, Motor1, Auto News — March 25, 2021
• Jalopnik, Cars Direct, Autoblog — March 26, 2021
• Muscle Cars and Trucks, Motor Biscuit — March 30, 2021

Google is your friend, and she misses the time you used to spend together.

 

[shoelessjoe]

Here is my question,..Why would Ford put all of their eggs in one basket? I would think that in any major manufacturing operation there would be more than one supplier for raw materials, supplies, etc???
Edit-You know damn good and well when Ford started this process, they put the bid for the top out to more than one top manufacturer!

There would be even more issues if you had several companies making hard tops. This one is too dark, this one is too light, this one is too thick, this one is too thin, this one is too long, this one is too short. It would be a nightmare.

 

[1975U15]

The option to switch to a soft top isn't available to 2 door orders. Nowhere to move except unless you change to four door which I am considering. Waiting to see if Ford comes thru on giving everyone build estimates by the EOM.

Well aware as a two door order my friend. And yes it was an eff up on Fords part (if we’re allowed to admit that)not to offer it.

 

[Erock]

I think you’re just feeling the hangover after super cel... it was like being all pumped up with adrenaline, and then just crashing back down to reality. That’s what it feels like for me.

 

[Lilj4425]

It’s pretty obvious going off Ford’s email to the dealerships asking customers to change their order from hard to soft top that there is an issue with the MIC.

A person who works at MAP posted on here a week or two ago that every single hard top Bronco they made in one day failed the quality inspection for the MIC.

 

[rugbysecondrow]

There have been numerous external press articles over the last 6 months discussing problems with the hard top supplier (Webasto) and the ensuing delays to the Bronco production timeline:

• Muscle Cars and Trucks — December 9, 2020
• Ford Authority, Motor1, Auto News — March 25, 2021
• Jalopnik, Cars Direct, Autoblog — March 26, 2021
• Muscle Cars and Trucks, Motor Biscuit — March 30, 2021

Google is your friend, and she misses the time you used to spend together.

I read them...tell me the part where they said there were delays due to MIC tops?

I get that it is popular to feel angst about this process, it seems mostly undeserved, IMO.

 

[DryYourTears]

Ford has become known for bad product launches. Look how the Explorer roll-out went. Sure, you can't make perfect predictions with everything, but I feel like launching a vehicle and taking reservations when your sole hard top supplier still needs to build and staff an entirely new factory in the middle of a pandemic shows some pretty poor judgement. It tells me they haven't really learned lessons from previous launches.

Right now if you wanted to make a documentary on the current Ford era, you could honestly title it "Failure To Launch".

I just did a quick Google search and came up with this article, and boy does some of it sound downright familiar (red highlights mine):

"when launches go bad, the sky falls. New vehicles pile up at the factory awaiting repair; money is wasted advertising vehicles that can't be bought because they haven’t made it to dealerships yet; assembly lines fall still; quality slides; complaints rise and CEOs tap dance through explaining profits are down because they mismanaged a core function of the business.

“Getting a launch wrong slows sales momentum and can increase an automaker’s costs” for repairs at the factory or after vehicles are sold, IHS Markit senior analyst Stephanie Brinley said. “The biggest risk is losing sales to early adopters who move on to something else.”"

 

[Jdc]

 

[1975U15]

No rumor about it, the hard tops are absolutely the issue. Nobody will get a Bronco by end of Spring. Yes some will get them during the summer, but 100 Broncos a day during the summer is not what they planned but it gets a few out there I guess. Most of us will be waiting a while.

Shhhh...be careful to speak the truth, may get you stoned(not that kinda stoned)

 

[Nickp]

“The biggest risk is losing sales to early adopters who move on to something else.”"

I don’t think Ford is too worried about this. I’d rather wait another YEAR to get a hard top Bronco that I don’t have to worry about leaks and rattles.

If anything i’m worried that they might put out hard tops that are “good enough” to get past the warranty and that’s it. If they need time to get it right.... give em time.

 

[rugbysecondrow]

No rumor about it, the hard tops are absolutely the issue. Nobody will get a Bronco by end of Spring. Yes some will get them during the summer, but 100 Broncos a day during the summer is not what they planned but it gets a few out there I guess. Most of us will be waiting a while.

Where did you read that they are only supplying 100 tops a day?

This is my greater point...this forum acts like an old ladies sewing circle, with gossip and rumor spun into a larger conspiracy.

Maybe I am unduly optimistic, but will be shocked if this is an issue that substantially impacts deliveries.

We will see.

 

[RoLyMa27]

Knock yourself out. By the time you get all of that up and running it’ll be 2 years from now and Webasto will have figured out whatever problems they have.

Come on Nick, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity! Get in on the ground floor! I will make you communications director!

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