Posted on 12/10/2022 6:21:47 PM PST by dennisw
News emerged this week that Ford has parked around 40,000 unfinished new vehicles waiting for parts.
If you thought parts shortages couldn't get any worse for the auto industry than they did last year, then it's time to hit reset. We've seen multiple car companies, including international giants like Honda and Toyota, struggle to deliver vehicles simply because they can't source the components they need. The same is true with Ford, which announced this week that up to 45,000 vehicles will be held in its inventory this quarter until they receive essential parts—mainly chips.
The Blue Oval has made use of Kentucky Speedway's many lots to store its many trucks until they can be sent to dealers. We reported on this in May 2021, and while Ford eventually worked its way through that stockpile, more started flooding in toward the end of August. Nearly a month later, the situation has gotten visibly worse.
You can see that the auxiliary lots to the east of Kentucky Speedway were just the beginning. Now, the race track is surrounded by thousands of Super Duty pickups that have never even been titled. It's a clear representation of what Ford and many others, both domestic and international, continue to face as demand far outpaces production capacity.
Pat Brindley Roeder, a Kentucky local who also witnessed the influx in parked trucks last year, says this is just one of the locations Ford is using for storage. She tells me that many more are being held at a former ammunition plant in Charlestown, Indiana, which is about 25 minutes from the Super Duty plant.
We still do. The feral government will not allow them to be sold ...
Too bad they need “Chips” to build a truck. Now they can’t get the chips. Many of these newer cars are totally over engineered with all this electronic bling.
We've seen multiple car companies, including international giants like Honda and Toyota, struggle to deliver vehicles simply because they can't source the components they need. The same is true with Ford, which announced this week that up to 45,000 vehicles will be held in its inventory this quarter until they receive essential parts—mainly chips.
Someone tried to steal my Kia, back in July, and it's been sitting at the dealership since, waiting on parts.
Well if you grabbed one from the lot, you could put an aftermarket fuel/ignition system on it. But it wouldn’t be legal in any state with emissions inspection. Or have a Ford warranty.
It is hard to understand how the executives of the auto companies and their vendors could be so dumb.
They just couldn't resist the temptation to save a few cents per part in return for losing control of their suppliers, and the technology needed to make their vehicles.
There is dumb, and then there is that business decision.
If they’re going to sell these vehicles overseas, why have them sitting on a parking lots in Kentucky and Indiana for months?
Vertical integration worked well for GM back in the 50s and 60s but they discovered that non-union suppliers could make sub-systems and parts a lot cheaper.
Tough to pass current federal / California emissions with a carburetor and distributor.
EV them. Oh, still need chips. Darn!
Some of those engines have both HP direct injection and low pressure port injection.
Not sure if aftermarket control systems can deal with that.
I’m sure they can if you’re willing to piggyback systems and spend a small fortune on tuning support. Bottom line is financially unfeasable.
Well they could dust off old designs and lose the chips.
Adjust the price accordingly.
I’d buy a new old vehicle that didn’t have the bells and whistles.
I get that. But the fact remains, these vehicles, starting about 15 or so years ago, became computers with wheels. The transmissions, drive train and suspension are all computer controlled. Everything. Over engineered.
My current truck has at least 7 cameras on it.
I believe it sat around for a couple of months waiting for cameras/camera modules rather than fuel system electronics.
You can buy 'em, but they ain't cheap....
https://www.gatewaybronco.com/
I can’t speak to the specifics of why it might sit for months in a parking lot before being moved. Maybe that’s due to shipping schedules. It’s probably economically related, because it would be cheaper to ship them on a cargo ship at once by the tens of thousands than by shipping them by a few dozen at a time.
However, I can say that if it’s sitting in a parking lot for months on end, the car company has no interest in selling them domestically.
All that stuff really mounts up in crash damage.
I’ve read a lot of new vehicles have 3 grand worth of headlights.
I’m priced out of the market in my old age.
Sitting in those lots because they don’t have the electronic modules to complete the build to make them legal to sell.
GM has the same problem with Chevy pickups from Ft. Wayne, storing them in Kokomo.
I’m sick of boutique trucks. 75% of F150 buyers have a monthly payment over $1000.
Choke* choke*...$250,000!?
Nope. Not what I had in mind...
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