All 2011 Mustangs on hold
Bullitt Member
Joined: March 3, 2010
Posts: 314
Likes: 0
From: Niles, Mi
You know I just thought of this way. I must really want this car to be so frustrated, and for that to happen Ford must of made a really good Mustang. So in a way Ford can take my frustration as an indication of how good the Mustang is. Or it could be I'm in a better mood since they've released the V6's, which is progress. Or it could just be that I'm off work now and can have an ice cold beer.
That always seems to make the waiting better!
That always seems to make the waiting better!
Last edited by IT_Guru; Apr 22, 2010 at 03:45 PM.
Tasca Super Boss 429 Member
Joined: November 14, 2007
Posts: 3,651
Likes: 8
From: Pacific NW USA
Anybody ever use Dominos pizza tracker online? Why can't we have THAT for special order cars?!?!?
Just add pepperoni to mine, thanks.
The pizza, not the Mustang.
If a pizza joint selling $10 pizza's can do it, a manufacturer selling $30k and up cars can most certainly do it!
Just add pepperoni to mine, thanks.
The pizza, not the Mustang.
If a pizza joint selling $10 pizza's can do it, a manufacturer selling $30k and up cars can most certainly do it!
Bullitt Member
Joined: November 3, 2004
Posts: 426
Likes: 0
From: QC, Canada
Mach 1 Member
Joined: March 25, 2010
Posts: 840
Likes: 0
From: Dallas, TX
Thread Starter
Joined: November 25, 2009
Posts: 1,519
Likes: 0
From: Metro Detroit
My Mothers V-6 is home. (now they just need to build mine!)
Bullitt Member
Joined: October 29, 2009
Posts: 371
Likes: 0
From: heart of texas
You're overlooking the point that we don't need a regional lot to pull cars from, because we already do this via "dealer trades." Allow me to explain: There are 130+ Ford Dealers in my region. If a customer calls/emails/visits us for a specific car that we don't have, we simply pull up Ford's internal "vehicle locator" program to search for that specific car anywhere in our region. Takes just a couple minutes to find it! We trade inventory on a very regular basis and have a full time person here who coordinates all of that traded inventory. We can usually have a traded vehicle to our lot in a few hours (if it's close by), or 1-2 days if it's hundreds of miles away.
If the specific vehicle a customer wants doesn't already exist on another dealer's lot anywhere in our region, then we offer to special order it from the factory. The only drawback to a special order is waiting the typical 6-8 weeks for it to arrive. We tell our customers who special order that 80% of the orders are here in that 6-8 week timeframe. The other 20% come sooner or later than the 6-8 weeks. Newly introduced or updated vehicles often take longer, and we tell our customers that if they special order one of these. It helps to manage the wait with a customer if they are told upfront that an ETA is difficult on a new model year, new model, updated model, etc., as things may change from the beginning of production until the time the okay to ship is given.
Lastly, I disagree with you that "most people would be willing to wait a few days for the exact car they want." I've been at the same dealership for 11 years. We gladly fetch/order anything a customer wants and our salesman are NOT paid on commission so they don't ever try to switch a customer to something they didn't ask for, yet I'm amazed that about 2/3 of our customers end up buying something very different than they initially told us they wanted when they first contacted us. My vendors have data that suggests this is a nationwide truth that only about 1/3 of customers buy exactly what they first thought they wanted. Buying a car is a very emotional, impulse purchase for many people! They see something they didn't know existed and, wham, they buy it on the spot. Happens all the time!
If the specific vehicle a customer wants doesn't already exist on another dealer's lot anywhere in our region, then we offer to special order it from the factory. The only drawback to a special order is waiting the typical 6-8 weeks for it to arrive. We tell our customers who special order that 80% of the orders are here in that 6-8 week timeframe. The other 20% come sooner or later than the 6-8 weeks. Newly introduced or updated vehicles often take longer, and we tell our customers that if they special order one of these. It helps to manage the wait with a customer if they are told upfront that an ETA is difficult on a new model year, new model, updated model, etc., as things may change from the beginning of production until the time the okay to ship is given.
Lastly, I disagree with you that "most people would be willing to wait a few days for the exact car they want." I've been at the same dealership for 11 years. We gladly fetch/order anything a customer wants and our salesman are NOT paid on commission so they don't ever try to switch a customer to something they didn't ask for, yet I'm amazed that about 2/3 of our customers end up buying something very different than they initially told us they wanted when they first contacted us. My vendors have data that suggests this is a nationwide truth that only about 1/3 of customers buy exactly what they first thought they wanted. Buying a car is a very emotional, impulse purchase for many people! They see something they didn't know existed and, wham, they buy it on the spot. Happens all the time!
also with a regional lot idea a company can stay more in tune with the options and features the customers want. not what the dealers think you want. Some dealers do a good job at ordering cars but most do not.
yes there are the impuse buyers. there always will be and no company would ever step out on a limb to go to the regional lot idea because if they did others would not....
and i still stand by my statment that a customer will be waiting to wait a few days to save a couple grand.
Mach 1 Member
Joined: March 21, 2010
Posts: 724
Likes: 0
From: Bridgeport, Ct
GT Member
Joined: March 21, 2007
Posts: 164
Likes: 0
From: western mass
You should try special ordering a vehicle from Toyota- may give you a choice of color (maybe), but
you basically get to choose from whatever vehicle they send to your dealer, and the options that
it has/doesn't have. You CANNOT order any specific "built to your order" vehicle. If one is available
you might actually get it, and then again, maybe not.................. been there with a friend trying
to order a Prius, just doesn't happen.
you basically get to choose from whatever vehicle they send to your dealer, and the options that
it has/doesn't have. You CANNOT order any specific "built to your order" vehicle. If one is available
you might actually get it, and then again, maybe not.................. been there with a friend trying
to order a Prius, just doesn't happen.
GT Member
Joined: April 2, 2010
Posts: 190
Likes: 0
From: Shizuoka City, Japan
So, yeah, statements that matter -- closed factories, for example -- are important in keeping the public informed. You don't, however, as a manufacturer want to give out unnecessary information that simply makes you look bad. And having a hold for a week, IMO, is not something that needs to be addressed. IMO, YMMV and all that.
When will it get here?
Thread Starter
Joined: November 25, 2009
Posts: 1,519
Likes: 0
From: Metro Detroit
Impressions, the new back end with dual exhaust looks tough, almost too tough for a v-6!
The pony badge is upsized on the fender, reaaaaaaaaallly looks a lot better.
The new pony package with the foglights in the lower part of the fascia instead of the grill is SWEET! Plus makes the GT's easier to spot.
The glass roof is SWEET, I am racing my car so I didnt want it but **** its sweet.
We have not got on it or run it hard in anyway it was 12 miles on it so no report on powerf.
The ride is WAAAAAY better then the Fusion SEL it replaced!
Post *****
Joined: December 14, 2007
Posts: 19,953
Likes: 4
From: State of Jefferson Mountains USA
The only other car I custom ordered was a 94 Saturn, and it took just over 3 mos. I was amazed that Ford built & delivered my custom ordered SE Bullitt within 60 days!
V6 Member
Joined: March 7, 2010
Posts: 50
Likes: 0
Maybe my dealer just left me with unreasonable expectations. This was my first new car purchased, I figured with technology where it is today the process would be much more transparent then it appears to be.
He made it seem like they would be able to provide updates the entire time, which they haven't supplied. I've found more information on this site then they ever provided.
Live and learn I guess, this will probably be the last new car I order. I don't really take kindly to the whole "your car will arrive when it arrives, we can't track it and stop bothering us for details" even though we have your deposit.
Just poor customer service, maybe all car makers are like this when ordering new cars.
He made it seem like they would be able to provide updates the entire time, which they haven't supplied. I've found more information on this site then they ever provided.
Live and learn I guess, this will probably be the last new car I order. I don't really take kindly to the whole "your car will arrive when it arrives, we can't track it and stop bothering us for details" even though we have your deposit.
Just poor customer service, maybe all car makers are like this when ordering new cars.
Bullitt Member
Joined: December 26, 2009
Posts: 295
Likes: 0
From: Pittsburgh, PA
I ordered one of the first 2007 Mazda MX-5 (Miata) retractable hardtop convertibles, it took 6 months for it to come in (of course it came from Japan). There wasn't a lot of information given during the wait period.
V6 Member
Joined: February 1, 2010
Posts: 82
Likes: 0
From: Niagara, Ontario
You should try special ordering a vehicle from Toyota- may give you a choice of color (maybe), but
you basically get to choose from whatever vehicle they send to your dealer, and the options that
it has/doesn't have. You CANNOT order any specific "built to your order" vehicle. If one is available
you might actually get it, and then again, maybe not.
you basically get to choose from whatever vehicle they send to your dealer, and the options that
it has/doesn't have. You CANNOT order any specific "built to your order" vehicle. If one is available
you might actually get it, and then again, maybe not.
Tasca Super Boss 429 Member
Joined: November 14, 2007
Posts: 3,651
Likes: 8
From: Pacific NW USA
- There has to be enough product at the "regional lot" to satisfy demand. Not just normal demand that could be satisfied by normal and cummulative stock inventory for all the dealers in that region, but also the stock that would have otherwise been special ordered. Who is gonna pay for flooring (the interest to the bank) on all the cars in the "regional lot"? Currently, Ford makes the dealers start paying the flooring as soon as the car leaves the factory (it used to be once the car was on the lot, but Ford has accelerated the process so they could get money earlier to bolster their cash flow). Sure, Ford could assign the flooring out proportionately to the participating dealers somehow, but the dealers will still have to be pair for by the dealers. So, the flooring expense will still be there for the dealers regardless of whether the car is at a "regional lot" or their own lot.
- You've seen "loss leaders" advertised before, right? You know, the cars that are priced at huge losses by dealers. These are typically the cars that have been sitting unsold for a very long time. The dealers have to give them away to avoid paying to floor them any longer, so the customer gets a smokin' deal on a car if they can live with the weird color or equipment that made that car unloved and unsold for so long. Even normal, popular cars can sit unsold for many months for any number of reasons, putting dealers in a position to lose money on them to clear them out. By switching to a "regional lot" the dealers would not be "stuck" with old age inventory, so they would not have the incentive needed to whack the sales price way down.
Thread Starter
Joined: November 25, 2009
Posts: 1,519
Likes: 0
From: Metro Detroit
this unit was ordered for Stock so only the dealers name is on the window sticker.
Impressions, the new back end with dual exhaust looks tough, almost too tough for a v-6!
The pony badge is upsized on the fender, reaaaaaaaaallly looks a lot better.
The new pony package with the foglights in the lower part of the fascia instead of the grill is SWEET! Plus makes the GT's easier to spot.
The glass roof is SWEET, I am racing my car so I didnt want it but **** its sweet.
We have not got on it or run it hard in anyway it was 12 miles on it so no report on power.
The ride is WAAAAAY better then the Fusion SEL it replaced!
Impressions, the new back end with dual exhaust looks tough, almost too tough for a v-6!
The pony badge is upsized on the fender, reaaaaaaaaallly looks a lot better.
The new pony package with the foglights in the lower part of the fascia instead of the grill is SWEET! Plus makes the GT's easier to spot.
The glass roof is SWEET, I am racing my car so I didnt want it but **** its sweet.
We have not got on it or run it hard in anyway it was 12 miles on it so no report on power.
The ride is WAAAAAY better then the Fusion SEL it replaced!
Mach 1 Member
Joined: March 25, 2010
Posts: 840
Likes: 0
From: Dallas, TX
What do you mean by this? Is it really smooth (yuck) or does it actually handle like a beast on rails? I gave my 2007 Fusion SEL V6 to my wife when we divorced a few months back. That car had some great power (for what it was) but the suspension was squishy and unresponsive like an old caddy and it had terrible body roll.
