What's up with my 6.2L retail order?
I'd like to provide some background first. When we first revealed the F-150 SVT Raptor we announced our plans to offer both a 5.4L and 6.2L engine despite the fact that the 6.2L would not be available until 2010 calendar year (several months after the 5.4L launch). We took this somewhat unusual step of announcing the 6.2L very early because we wanted to give prospective buyers as much information as possible to make the best decision for their individual situation. Keep in mind that in general there's limitations for how much advance information we can announce early due to competitive reasons. Fortunately, in this case we were able to announce the 6.2L earlier than normal.

We also took the step of announcing the 6.2L pricing at the same time as we announced the F-150 SVT Raptor pricing w/ the 5.4L. Again, this was done to help prospective buyers make the best decision for themselves.

A downside to this strategy is it makes for a longer wait for those wanting the 6.2L engine. For those who've placed an order for the 6.2L, let me extend my sincere thanks for your patience. I know the wait has been long and you are anxious to get your truck ASAP. I definately understand. The truck is fantastic, I really think that your wait will be worth it.

Our priority for launching any new product is to make sure the quality meets the high standards of our customers and our internal world class standards. We will not release a car or truck for sale until it meets these requirements. If it means we need to hold the vehicles for additional checks we will do that. We simply will NOT compromise on our quality and delivering the toughest, most capable truck to our customers.

The extreme high interest in Raptor and most recently the 6.2L engine has generated over 7,000 orders worldwide for the truck since launch, including nearly 3,000 6.2L orders. While this is great for Ford and Raptor, it results in longer than normal waits for our customers because we have limited manufacturing capacity for speciality products like Raptor. To put it in context we were building about 500 5.4L Raptors per month prior to the 6.2L launch.

For a typical vehicle like the base F-150 (non Raptor) the monthly production is allocated to dealers each month. There's a sophisticated computer formula which basically calculates how many vehicles each dealer receives based on their sales and inventory levels. For specialty and limited production vehicles like Raptor with very high demand the traditional system could result in some dealers not receiving a Raptor in a timely basis due to their size. However, that's not the case for Raptor! In the United States we have a process we are using called the retail order verification process. This process validates which dealer orders are for retail customers who have committed to purchasing the truck (vs. orders that dealers place for stock or inventory which do not have an identified purchaser when the the order was placed). Once the dealer has a deposit and the required paperwork the dealership submits the info to our program headquarters and within a couple of days the order is typically verified.

Verified retail orders (you can ask your dealer if your not certain if your retail order was submitted thru this process) then get priority scheduling. It doesn't matter if you placed the order at the biggest or smallest Ford U.S. dealer. If it's a verified retail order it gets priority scheduling.

When we launched the 6.2L Raptor we did have a hold on the trucks initially for some checks to make sure everything met our high standards. Unfortunately, we can't predict exactly how long it will take sometimes to resolve the concern so orders were pushed back to a later date when we could be certain they would be built. On March 31 the concern was resolved and we released the 6.2L for sale and resumed production. Shortly after this we took immediate action to pull ahead scheduling of all verified retail orders into our May production and prioritized these units ahead of all other Raptor production. This is the good news as it improved some order dates by several months. That's the good news. Note it takes a few days for the internal Ford systems to get updated with the new schedule dates for dealers and our customer assistance center to view and communicate to our customers. However, I can tell you I have verified the schedule dates of a handful of verified retail orders which had June or later schedule dates and they indeed have been pulled ahead into May production. I am told that your dealers should see the updated schedule dates by tomorrow.

We truly appreciate your patience. We care deeply about you as customers and are grateful you have ordered the F-150 SVT Raptor.

Hopefully, this clarifies some misinformation out there. The truth is we care deeply and we are building the 6.2L's as fast as we can to try to keep up with the huge demand. We have prioritized the verified retail orders ahead of other production and that should result in getting these Raptors delivered months ahead of what would happen w/out this program. 6.2L Raptors are being built and shipped and of course they meet all of our quality standards. Verified retail orders are being prioritized irrespective of the size of your dealer. New schedule dates should be available tomorrow (I'm crossing my fingers!)

If your order was placed and verified recently (within the last 2 weeks) your order will get scheduled for June production.

Final note - Raptors ordered with boxside digital mud graphics go to a seperate modification center in Flat Rock (most of you are aware of this). This additional step adds some time to your delivery date vs. those without the digital mud graphic.

Sorry for the long note. Just wanted to try to provide you with some better info and updated news.

Thanks again for your patience.
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Mark
Ford F-150 Marketing Manager