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This week Ford opened up its fleet order banks for the 2022 super duty trucks. We are expecting this year to be much different than most years as part shortages and production problems are still found all over the world and abundantly in the auto manufacturing sector. For most years order banks are open for the majority of the year and typically are only closed for 3-4 months between model years. This year we are urging our partners to expect the reverse to be true and possibly only have order banks open for 3-6 months. This will require some extra planning and foresight for most companies and if you are needing help with your fleet analysis, feel free to reach out to us.
I also wanted to give credit to Ford for actually posting estimated lead times for fleet orders. Although these lead times are much longer than previous years at least Ford is letting the end users and ordering dealers know what to expect, which is more than most do. The super duties are an expected lead time of 18-20 weeks from order to delivery which is 6-8 weeks longer than normal. Right now the most notable production lead time is Ford Transit vans at 28-30 weeks with high roof vans and special packages adding another 6-8 week delay on top. This is about double the ETAs of these vehicles in previous years.
If you are interested in keeping up with order bank information you can check out our resource page at www.cooperfleetservices.com/tools which is updated regularly as manufacturers make announcements. Keep in mind these dates are always subject to the manufacturer changing them at any time for any reason even retroactively.
Auto manufacturers are still announcing production changes. A few of the latest is Ford’s Louisville assembly plant cutting a Thursday shift and both Friday shifts.
Ford is recalling certain 2018 F-150s 2018 – 2020 F-250s and 350s and 2019 Escapes with Continental brand tires. The company is claiming that these tires were cured too long during production and may develop a break in the side-wall resulting in tire failure and sudden air loss. Nissan was also affected with their 2018-2021 Titans and 2019-2020 Altimas.
The United Autoworkers Unions is threatening unspecified action against Ford unless they reverse the decision to build an upcoming electric crossover in Mexico that had been, according to the UAW, promised to the Ohio assembly plant. A vice president at the UAW accused Ford of corporate greed in this decision. Ford responded by saying that their plans have changed and they are still interested in investing in the Ohio plant.
Commercial electric vehicle startup named Arrival says it will build its second mirco factory near Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. This facility is expected to produce around 10,000 electric vans per year with the majority for UPS their primary customer.
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