Reserved within first 15 minutes, but dealer just told me I won't get a Lightning until 2023.

[jpepper07]

I haven't owned a Ford in 30 years. My build date is June 6th. So it clearly wasn't all loyal customers

Dealers prioritization were meant for loyal customers but dealers screwed that up. It's also possible to get lucky at a small dealer.

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[jpepper07]

Correct. I'm a Diamond Hilton member. Hilton gives Diamond members a guaranteed room whether the hotel is full, or not. That means they're bumping people if I want a room.

No, haha. They don't bump people. Hilton doesn't care about you that much. They keep a reserve of empty rooms for this exact purpose.

 

[vandy1981]

I absolutely believe that if they did first in first out that people would still have complained about other things due to this. First in first out would be a crap ton of problems and slow deliveries down because ford wouldn't be able to prioritize. That would have been more than 2 weeks of bad press.

I meant first-in-first-out for reservation-to-order conversions. Meaning someone who reserved at 8:01PM on 5/19 would have a chance to place an order before someone who reserved at 8:03PM.

People will complain about orders getting picked for builds, even if Ford has a method to the madness. The difference is that the dealer has no role in deciding which orders get picked.

 

[vandy1981]

There is a good reason, Ford wanted to reward loyal customers. You just don't like the reason because it inconvenienced you.

Following your logic my dealer should be able to give my order to their most favored customer if they ask for it.

 

[greenne]

Ford isn't going to win the EV transition if they only cater to their legacy customers and they allow dealers to play favorites with customers for often dubious reasons.

Oh I strongly disagree...

Ford's entire EV philosophy(business plan) hinges on legacy customers making the transition from ICE---->EVs. Look at the way they are developing the model line--legacy nameplates--f150, Mustang, Explorer, etc.

Ford is betting a current f150 owner would NEVER buy a cybertruck.. but they can convince him/her to buy a Lightning. Ford is betting they can convince a lifelong Explorer owner to go Electric Explorer for the next one. There's only so many early adopters out there...and most are flocking to Tesla. Ford is seeking to convert those that maybe a bit more apprehensive about going EV and capitalize on brand/model loyalty. Its a solid strategy that needs to be succeed if we are to spur wide EV adoption on a skeptical public.

If they pick up some new customers to the nameplate thats a great bonus...but those are not who Ford is after with their "Electrification strategy".

I think its genius and I believe that they will pass Tesla as the number one EV maker because of good strategy(winning over a skeptical consumer), market saturation(models in multiple sizes, classes of vehicles) and scalability(getting the cost down to where it financially makes sense).

Having a dealer(even as middleman) takes some of the scariness out of buying a vehicle. I don't think they would be successful winning legacy people over if they went 100% online.

 

[LightningShow]

No, haha. They don't bump people. Hilton doesn't care about you that much. They keep a reserve of empty rooms for this exact purpose.

They guarantee the reservation unless the hotel is more than 10% overbooked. As it relates to the Ford reservation system, yes, a hotel will absolutely cancel your reservation for whatever reason they deem appropriate. The reservation is not a guarantee for the good or service, let alone a specific place in line to purchase the good or service.

 

[greenne]

I absolutely believe that if they did first in first out that people would still have complained about other things due to this. First in first out would be a crap ton of problems and slow deliveries down because ford wouldn't be able to prioritize. That would have been more than 2 weeks of bad press.

Some people just want to complain...

 

[jpepper07]

I meant first-in-first-out for reservation-to-order conversions. Meaning someone who reserved at 8:01PM on 5/19 would have a chance to place an order before someone who reserved at 8:03PM.

People will complain about orders getting picked for builds, even if Ford has a method to the madness. The difference is that the dealer has no role in deciding which orders get picked.

Sure, but what I am saying is that even if they did. Someone who reserved within 15 min still might not get a truck. While someone in October might because they went to a small dealer. Also converting to an order but then just waiting a year for yours to be built would be the same difference. Then ford would just be holding on to your deposit but unable to deliver.

 

[jpepper07]

They guarantee the reservation unless the hotel is more than 10% overbooked. As it relates to the Ford reservation system, yes, a hotel will absolutely cancel your reservation for whatever reason they deem appropriate. The reservation is not a guarantee for the good or service, let alone a specific place in line to purchase the good or service.

They are not canceling their silver members reservations for diamond members. They can in fact do what they want to do.

 

[LightningShow]

Following your logic my dealer should be able to give my order to their most favored customer if they ask for it.

Oh, really? LOL.

 

[Stlww18]

The other thing no one has really talked about (I think) is that the dealer prioritization actually probably protected a lot of customer orders from being supplanted by "flippers."

How many of those first 3 days reservations do you think were people plopping down $100 for a chance to get an early allocation that they could flip for a profit. Dealer prioritization helps them identify actual customers who will use the truck over people who are going to turn it for an immediate profit. At least this way they know they're getting more of them into the hands of actual truck drivers and previous Ford customers other than whoever had the fastest trigger finger at launch.

I can't count the number of people I've seen post on forums that have a Lightning, CT, and Silverado reservation. If I were Ford (or a dealer) those would be low priority customers for me.

 

[pstansel]

FWIW I met with my electrician this morning to talk about my charger installation. When I told him what I was getting he said oh yeah, we've tried ordering a couple for our fleet because of the on board generators. I told him good luck

 

[vandy1981]

Having a dealer(even as middleman) takes some of the scariness out of buying a vehicle.

I'd be shocked if you found many committed EV buyers who agree with that statement. I would argue that it's the opposite for most people.

Sure, but what I am saying is that even if they did. Someone who reserved within 15 min still might not get a truck. While someone in October might because they went to a small dealer.

Yes, but that's at least more rational than having to depend on a dealer who wants to sell prioritizations or give them to family or friends or people that they like for any silly reason.

 

[greenne]

I'd be shocked if you found many committed EV buyers who agree with that statement. I would argue that it's the opposite for most people.



Yes, but that's at least more rational than having to depend on a dealer who wants to sell prioritizations or give them to family or friends or people that they like for any silly reason.

There are a lot of people... especially truck buyers... which still don't trust buying vehicles off the internet. If Ford is after mainstream America.. they will keep dealers in the loop somehow..if nothing else for a reception delivery system and/or service center.

 

[beatle]

Ford is betting a current f150 owner would NEVER buy a cybertruck.. but they can convince him/her to buy a Lightning.

...

If they pick up some new customers to the nameplate thats a great bonus...but those are not who Ford is after with their "Electrification strategy".

I am a Tesla owner who is leaving the brand and has never owned a Ford or even a full size truck. My other trucks have been a Tacoma and a Ridgeline. I don't think Ford has anything to lose and everything to gain by bringing in plenty of new people to the brand or they'll have to hang their head in heritage fashion like Harley Davidson. There will still be plenty of people who still hate EVs that will never be convinced, and plenty of people whose use case (long distance or extreme duty towing) still can't be easily satisfied by an EV. Better to cater to the swing voters right now. I think they've still done the right thing by keeping the same design language as the ICE trucks though.

FWIW, I would likely have bought a Cybertruck or perhaps a Rivian, but I don't have 2-3 more years to wait, and I still worry about being able to fix them when they break. I also have a Silverado EV reservation just in case my experience with the Lightning isn't a good one.

I'd be shocked if you found many committed EV buyers who agree with that statement. I would argue that it's the opposite for most people.

Prime dealer benefit for me is having an actual throat to choke and a more local place if you need service or parts. Tesla's service decline since 2019 has shown me how important that actually is to my ownership experience. I think Ford still has a ways to go to improve the experience and customer/dealership relations, but the Lightning launch so far looks to be better than others where dealerships are scalping people with markups. It will be interesting to see what kind of policies they develop for their Model E branch to make things better from a buying perspective. I hope to find out when I buy an EV Ranger.

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