Because Ford has oversold some variations and undersold others of the 2023 Ford Maverick, customers who have already ordered and have not been scheduled for production are being invited make changes to their powertrain configuration, trim grade and option packages according to a memo sent to dealerships this week.
Let’s start with the big one. If you have ordered a 2023 Ford Maverick Hybrid and are still waiting to be scheduled, let me just rip the band aid off – Ford has more Hybrid orders than they intend to build for 2023.
Production for the 2023 Maverick Hybrid is limited to 35% of capacity, they have orders for 72%. That means they are oversold by 38% and if you’re waiting for one to be scheduled for production your actual chances of getting it are just a little better than 50/50. That’s not conjecture, that’s math.
This was an issue in the 2022 model year where many of those waiting for oversold Hybrid orders got canceled at the end of the production year and rolled over to a 2023 model. Thus for 2023 production there are both rollover customers who have waited for over a year for theirs plus new orders that came in last September. Oversold again.
To help solve the problem, Ford is asking dealerships to reach out to customers waiting for a 2023 Maverick Hybrid to be built and have them switch to and EcoBoost model to increase their chances of getting their truck built for the 2023 model year. If you don’t change, the sad fact is you might not get a truck.
Adding insult to injury another popular choice by consumers is the Maverick XL in either engine configuration, oversold by 11%. Because Ford will only build a mix of 15% Maverick XL and their current take rate on orders is 26% there are many of these buyers who will not have their truck built.
Ford is encouraging buyers to step up and change their trim grade to XLT or Lariat to increase chances their Maverick will get scheduled for production. Yes you heard that right, spend more money you might get your truck.
There is good news in the memo however, there is now additional factory capacity for many of the options and packages that were previously constrained. Ford is now allowing customers to take advantage by adding them to their current orders.
These include a factory applied spray-in bed-liner which used to be a kiss of death to getting your truck scheduled. Now they have added capacity and are incentivizing it with a special package price of $495 that also includes a storage management system. That’s a good deal if you want to take the risk.
Because the take rate has been so low on other packages such as the XLT and Lariat Luxury Packages buyers can now add these as they are not currently a supply constraint for source components and parts.
What was originally going to be a tough buy was the new Tremor Off-Road Package which includes the advanced AWD system, a suspension lift and a number of other goodies. Before order blanks opened dealers warned it would be constrained to only 8% of production.
It seems buyers shied away from it only taking up 2% of available capacity. Ford clearly wants to sell more of them in their mix, so now order blanks will allow XLT and Lariat AWD to add this package without worry.
Lastly, the CoPilot 360 package that like a spray-in bed-liner in 2022 was nearly a guarantee your truck would take forever to get built, is now wide open for capacity. Buyers can now add the CoPilot and CoPilot Assist packages of advanced safety and driver assist systems to their orders.
There is of course still the caveat that if your dealership placed more customer orders than they have allocations, you may still be out of luck if you are at the end of the priority list. That’s another matter all together that’s really just screwed up.
So if you ordered a base 2023 Ford Maverick Hybrid XL you are in double jeopardy of never getting your truck built. Ford themselves suggest you change something or roll the dice. They have also stated previously that there will be no roll-over deals to 2024 like they did for 2022 customers.
In summary, it’s just hard to understand why Ford Motor Company has allowed their ordering and dealer allocation system to be so broken that buyers cannot depend on getting transparency, fairness or at best even some level of good faith in the process.
