Former Ford ZM

Nope, monthly sales figures are based on sales to retail and fleet customers. Those sales get the headlines and sales rankings and help out on the wholesale front. Ford books revenue, err loses, when they are built and shipped to the dealer.

jrod, aren't the young guy in the pic with the wife picking up a new Edge on the right hand side here? Also, my apologies, if us in the field had done better with wholesale and retail sales, we'd all be doing alot better right now.

CONCEPS will only be viewable to your specific dealership. You won't be able to view others orders.

By July we will be building the 2008s model. I had homelink on a previously company issued Explorer. I would think something like that would be on it. The 08 will have some more options that you may enjoy.

Well the allocation process is always there, regardless of how in demand the vehicle line. Hence, some lines are no brainers and some really take strongarming the dealer to agree to your wholesale number. Basically it leaves the middleman, the dealer, as a way that Ford stays in business. It's like the saying, Ford always gets their money. That's why dealers are so anal about the deals they do and the warranty work they take on. In the end, we're holding the pursestrings and have the final say on if they get paid or not. Bottom line is, we do need to become more retail oriented, the problem is we definitely are not geared for that, especially with our production system.

NYEdge, you are past the commodity phase. Commodities come into play for when a dealer order is scheduled and serialized (VIN produced). At this point it is locked into the production system and the only things that can affect it are last minute supplier shortages, unplanned downtime, shipping issues. Horn21 is unfortunately in the waiting process to get his order scheduled due to the constraint on how many orders with his wheels get scheduled and produced for a given week. Horn, let me know, whose is your dealer? It's a longshot, but you never know, it may be one of mine. Jrod, you pretty much nailed it, info scarce, pressure high, morale is awful. However, everyone on the salaried side was offered a "Voluntary" offer in December and the HR script said basically "You are urged to take this offer based on what little information on what our organizational structure will be." With the months of salary offered, it is little wonder so many people are taking it and running. A good friend of mine from college worked for Nestle. They had a bunch of their staff called into a meeting shortly before lunch one day, told they were closing down their facility, they had an hour to gather their things and they'd get their last check the following week for their full two week payperiod and that was that. I've heard Mullaly just wanted to go one, two , you're in, three there's the door.

I will definitely pass this up on your behalf Sranger. PS, which dealers did you go to?

Sure thing. Allocation is how we divy up our production for our dealer body. Everything that is built is sold already, hence we go out and negotiate a commitment from the dealer months in advance. This gives our supplier base a heads up on what we order from them and we know in advance what vehicle lines are going to need to reduce or increase line speed, cut or add shifts, or begin spending incentives on. The dealer is free to order as little or as much vehicle production as they would like. However, the Zone Manager only has a certain amount of allocation which is guided based on what is called "Share of Nation." As a dealer sells Ford products, they, in theory, earn their fair share of future allocation. The wholesale is conducted, and future production allocation is committed to. A week later, production scheduling starts and the allocation is divided into weekly orders. This is when orders get serialized and assigned a VIN. It is here where retail customers and dealerships experience their limits on patience when a retail order is taken. The retail order may have come from the customer when the dealer has exhausted all their allocation or has a boatload of allocation for production at least a month away. Depending on how many weekly orders the dealer gets also determines if orders with "commodity controls" get scheduled first or are heldover and remain unscheduled. Commodity control is placed when certain vehicle options, either a series line, GT500, FX4, SEL, engine option, 6.4 diesel, 5.4 Triton, or option, 18" wheels, AWD, Hybrid, is ordered way beyond the capacity. At this point, it is determined that only a certain percentage of orders will get scheduled for production with those controls. That percentage is dished out weekly. So if say 10% of all orders can have an option that week, then the dealer has to prioritize his orders accordingly. Say a dealer has 10 units of one vehicle to order in a week and he has two customers that want 18" wheels where the commodity control says only 10% available. Dealer can get at least one of the orders schedule while the other one is probably passed over while 9 more units for the lot get scheduled. In the following week, the percentage is upped to 20% due to increased supplier production. Good thing, the dealer only has 5 to order that week, the second customer can get their order scheduled. However, maybe another dealer that had 10 orders as well didn't order any with the restricted option, so the regional control will find another order with the option and get it scheduled in the first week. Confused enough? Hell, I sure am.

The chrome wheels are on what is called "commodity control." Meaning only a certain percentage of orders can have said commodities on them. It is like 18% if I recall correctly. Your order is held up because of this due to ordering complexities when it comes to producing vehicles and dealer allocation. You can have your dealer contact their Zone Manager and see if he or she can bring it to a schedulers attention and get it handled. But I'd have them do it quick, alot of us are leaving or fired on Wednesday.

The 08s will be around in the summer. The last 07s will be built in May and June. I believe, don't quote me, but the 08s will get the whole new audio and climate controls ala 08 Escape and Focus.

Correct, that is coil on plug ignition modules there. I would think you take those modules off and the plugs should be fairly easy to get out...on the front bank. The rear bank would probably require the intake manifold to come off.

Maybe it's because the MKX is priced higher so the options are dropped a bit to keep the price lower than the competition.

Anyone else having issues with the site? If I do a "New Topic" "Full Edit" or "Add Reply" my IE window crashes once the page starts loading. It's doing it consistently under those options. And then the little box pops up saying "Do you want to report this issue to Microsoft?" However, "Quick Edit" and "Fast Reply" won't crash IE.

Enterprise should have some. I know because I had a very pissed off dealer that had a few go through his dealership for them in Janaury before he received his first retail stock order in February. Also, check with your local dealers and ask if they are a FRCS dealer. Pronounced "Fracks" and is short for Ford Rental Car System.

I don't see why not, however I bet the parts counter would be more the the $60 option for vehicle. IMO it really should just be a standard feature. I know I've told my dealers to order every unit with that option.

I was in two SUVs before being put in a sedan. After that change, I didn't like being so low to the ground. I now fully understand Americas whole love affair with big trucks and SUVs and just how the oil crunch has us "by the balls."

Last week there was an announcement about a new 18" chrome clad wheel available for the Edge SEL and SEL+. Only available in the AWD versions however. It looks like the chrome clad 18" wheel from the Explorer. I'm curious if the Edge/MKX bolt pattern is the same as the Explorer and not the Fusion?

Have you driven one and done braking in Atlanta traffic at all yet?

I don't have them off hand, but IIRC Edge was around 5,500 units or so, MKX was say 1,600 units for January sales.

Good question Marc as to the technicalities as to why the roof rails and Vista roof are incompatible. I'll look into that, no one has ever questioned me personally on it yet. As for the deadline to modify an order you have up until the order has been "Submitted to Plant." At which point it will have a full VIN. You can make any changes until that point. Bear in mind, order scheduling happens as early as Wednesday nights on a weekly basis.

I can't recall exactly, but wasn't someone on here saying they could find a dealer in Atlanta that wanted to stock an AWD Edge? I'm curious if that person is still around here. Thanks.

Management has been quoted as saying, "we will build more MKXs before we throw $1,000 on the hood of an Edge." The MKX has really taken off for a Lincoln variant of a vehicle.

Aha, you did something last night that changed the color layout of the forum didn't you? I thought I had done something when I made a post and when it published the colors had changed.

It really depends on the vehicle and the degree of the incline. I was in an Explorer until a few weeks ago. That thing would not roll backwards on any incline I found. I'm now in a Milan and it immediately starts rolling up on a majority of inclines. As for the Edge I've used a few days, its about 50/50. I did find two times that it rolled backwards, but these were on some pretty steep inclines. If you think the rolling backwards is happening too much or too quickly, pop open the hood. Look by the air filter housing, you should a curved/bent tube attached to the rubber coupling that goes from the airbox housing to the throttlebody. Make sure it isn't leaking/hissing, it would be noisy if it's not clamped down and sealed properly. This helps for "tip in" response.

No. A majority of the plants are down for Christmas for nearly two weeks. Makes for a very nice vacation. However, the hard working men and women of Oakville Assembly Plant did work everyday EXCEPT Christmas to get the launch going and work on the thousands of retrofits that went into storage.