8 weeks to order

[JennyD]

Not selling well everywhere.....the dealer down the road from where I work has had the same 11 expeditions on his lot for the past 4 months.....they are not moving at all. And that's with them advertising up to $8000 off....

Wow! Selection around my town is really slim, mostly LTD Max or Limited. Nothing with heavy duty towing and only 1 locally with a sunroof. I'm going to have to order, and the timelines people are sharing are disappointing! But I guess I'll wait to get what I want!

 

[MonkeyBrains]

Each market is different. Around here it’s all trucks, big SUVs (Yukon XL, Escalade, etc.. all big sellers), jeeps, other 4x4s... And people seem to be willing to go all the way if they decide to go the large SUV route. Dealers are having a hard time moving XLTs without big discounts. And yet they can’t keep Limiteds or Platinums on the lot. Limited MAX with 302 options group (LED headlights, CCD suspension w/ 22” wheels and other goodies), and HD towing is a hot commodity. Took a while for me to find mine and several dealerships have lists of people looking for such a beast.

I do think Ford is having some trouble swaying the GM crowd over to a new Expy vs. a new /Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade. GM has had a solid track record with those for such a long time. A lot of your “truck guys” are leery of the V6 and I know a few that will buy the GMC over the Ford just for how the engine sounds. The engineer in me likes the quiet efficiency of Ford’s design and despises the fake engine noise inside. I think Ford made the wrong decision to go that route and they would be doing better on sales with a properly tuned exhaust.

Regardless of where anyone’s located, it seems most dealerships or specifically regional managers who are making decisions on which configs to order for dealer stock, are making very poor choices. They’re not paying attention to what people want. Not looking at what the best selling configs of the GM models offer. They need to stop stocking dealerships with bare-bones XLTs and only configuring LTD/Platinum as if they’re a pavement princess minivan toting around a bunch of kindergarteners. Finding an LTD/Platinum with HD tow and no rear seat entertainment is a challenge. It’s usually ordered with one or the other and almost always the RSE. Sales guys are not doing much better. Most don’t seem to get what the HD tow package is used for. Most all of them I’ve talked to seem to think people are just gadget nuts and want the trailer backup assist thingy. The beefier radiator and higher tow capacity just does not compute for them.

 

[shane_th_ee]

Dealers are having a hard time moving XLTs without big discounts. And yet they can’t keep Limiteds or Platinums on the lot. Limited MAX with 302 options group (LED headlights, CCD suspension w/ 22” wheels and other goodies), and HD towing is a hot commodity....

If you look back through this thread, you'll find that most people with really long order times wanted the 22" wheels and/or the 3.73 rear axle. Supply still seems to be constrained on those configurations.

...Regardless of where anyone’s located, it seems most dealerships or specifically regional managers who are making decisions on which configs to order for dealer stock, are making very poor choices. They’re not paying attention to what people want. Not looking at what the best selling configs of the GM models offer. They need to stop stocking dealerships with bare-bones XLTs and only configuring LTD/Platinum as if they’re a pavement princess minivan toting around a bunch of kindergarteners. Finding an LTD/Platinum with HD tow and no rear seat entertainment is a challenge. It’s usually ordered with one or the other and almost always the RSE. Sales guys are not doing much better. Most don’t seem to get what the HD tow package is used for. Most all of them I’ve talked to seem to think people are just gadget nuts and want the trailer backup assist thingy. The beefier radiator and higher tow capacity just does not compute for them.

I don't know if it's changed or not, but when we ordered ours it wasn't that dealers didn't want the HD towing package; it was that there weren't enough 3.73 rear axles available. So dealers couldn't order a configuration with the 3.73 rear axle, even if they wanted to. I know dealers can now order 3.73 rear axles again, but I don't know that they can order all they want.

 

[rumline]

Each market is different. Around here it’s all trucks, big SUVs (Yukon XL, Escalade, etc.. all big sellers), jeeps, other 4x4s... And people seem to be willing to go all the way if they decide to go the large SUV route. Dealers are having a hard time moving XLTs without big discounts. And yet they can’t keep Limiteds or Platinums on the lot. Limited MAX with 302 options group (LED headlights, CCD suspension w/ 22” wheels and other goodies), and HD towing is a hot commodity.
[...]
Regardless of where anyone’s located, it seems most dealerships or specifically regional managers who are making decisions on which configs to order for dealer stock, are making very poor choices. They need to stop stocking dealerships with bare-bones XLTs and only configuring LTD/Platinum as if they’re a pavement princess minivan toting around a bunch of kindergarteners. Finding an LTD/Platinum with HD tow and no rear seat entertainment is a challenge. It’s usually ordered with one or the other and almost always the RSE. Sales guys are not doing much better. Most don’t seem to get what the HD tow package is used for. Most all of them I’ve talked to seem to think people are just gadget nuts and want the trailer backup assist thingy. The beefier radiator and higher tow capacity just does not compute for them.

QFT.

 

[MonkeyBrains]

If you look back through this thread, you'll find that most people with really long order times wanted the 22" wheels and/or the 3.73 rear axle. Supply still seems to be constrained on those configurations.

Yeh dealership I bought from basically said the same thing. Not so much that certain parts were not available, but Ford and their regional buyers had a lot to do with which configurations were available and what could be ordered. Lots of production details to balance out and they were only willing to dedicate so much time on the production line for certain options/ configs. Dealerships had to take so many XLTs for each LTD or Platinum and custom orders were difficult because they would only accept orders for certain configs at times or when specific order slots opened up. This was why I didn’t initially just order what I wanted when I first started shopping in January.

Most of the LTD/Platinums coming in did not have the HD tow package, but most all seemed to have the RSE... Sales manager said that’s the way Ford’s regional people were specifying them. I could order any of the options I wanted right there on the spot if I were willing to pay the premium and go Lincoln. And they were selling a few gators configured the way I wanted. But I couldn’t justify the gator price tag. They had a black label gator come in configured just the way I wanted and we got to check it out. It was the burgundy color with the cappuccino interior and my wife was smitten with it. I’m glad it was a custom order for someone else because she probably would have found a way to talk me into buying it. It was awesome, but all the awesomeness was interior trim stuff and no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t see $30K of additional value there. Also why I went Limited over Platinum... Saved me $5K and all I’m missing out on is slightly nicer leather, real wood (still a paper-thin veneer) and those stupid vibrating “massage” seats. But I would’ve paid it if they found my Magnetic with Ceramic interior I wanted. So I guess I can be a sucker at times too.

 

[Frank Galioto]

Just ordered 2020 Platinum Max on first day they opened the orders. Can’t wait to get any kind of info

 

[Vicious]

Congrats Frank! Keep us updated