Ford Reports Record Sales

[jgudnason]

Just an interesting article.
26% of us going for the Platinum trim it appears.

https://www.carscoops.com/2018/04/f...ition-f-series-navigator-fly-off-dealer-lots/

 

[Flexpedition]

Some here don't understand this and constantly argue it.

I've noticed my local dealer can't keep platinums for more than a few days. He's got XLT's sitting on the lot for 90 days according to cargurus. I just assumed it was a local thing.

If you look at Fords forecasting on the dealers retail order mix guide, they predicted 38% XLT, 44% Limited, and only 12% Platinum. Remaining 6% XL/SSV. 26% Plat is remarkable and might account for the delay with 22 inch rims earlier in the year.

Forecast/guide:
http://www.diehlford.com/images/pdf/ordering-guides/expedition.pdf

 

[Scottorama]

Its pretty simple.......The entry level XLT is way overpriced for the market. Ford had a year long fire sale on the 2017's, knocking $10,000 to $15,000 of the sticker just to get rid of them. The bargain hunters and budget minded people all bought the 2017, leaving no customers for the cheaper XLT 2018's. Drop the 2018 XLT price by $10,000 and they will start selling.

Also, there is new competition from the Chevy Traverse/Buick Encore that are stealing sales from both the Ford and GM full sized market. GM sold over 30,000 of these vehicles last months. Interior sizes between the GM mid sized vehicles and the regular sized Expedition are not that much different, but the price of the GM vehicles averages $20,000 to $30,000 cheaper. If you have an average sized family and don't tow anything, its hard to justify buying an Expedition XLT when the Traverse and/or Encore has similar interior space for so much less cost.

http://media.gm.com/dld/content/Page...March-2018.pdf

 

[JExpedition07]

Well they are improving for sure. But there is no record sales here lol, still way lower than 2nd gen and early 3rd gen models. Your point on competition is true and they are just too expensive to sell as they once did. GM sells about 20,000 Tahoes alone monthly, ford sold 5600 expeditions, the expy is still being blown out of the water.

 

[aggiegrad05]

9500 Tahoes in March to Ford's 5600 Expis.

Granted, Ford's 5600 includes the SWB and LWB, so if you include the 4400 Burbs with the Tahoes, you get to about 14,000 units from The General. But you have to include the Yukon and the Yukon XL to get to 20,000.

 

[shane_th_ee]

If you have an average sized family and don't tow anything, its hard to justify buying an Expedition XLT when the Traverse and/or Encore has similar interior space for so much less cost.

http://media.gm.com/dld/content/Page...March-2018.pdf

If you have an average size family and don't tow anything, it's hard to justify buying something that's not a minivan...

 

[MonkeyBrains]

Some here don't understand this and constantly argue it.

I've noticed my local dealer can't keep platinums for more than a few days. He's got XLT's sitting on the lot for 90 days according to cargurus. I just assumed it was a local thing.

I’m in the Denver area and large SUVs are a constant thing here. Local dealers can’t keep Limited and Platinum models on. The lot. They all do have a couple XLTs and are cutting deals on those. I only managed $1500 total in Ford incentives, plus another $2500 off on my Max 4x4 Limited. Wanted the Platinum, but couldn’t find one with the right options anywhere in 1000 miles for over 3 months of looking. I should have ordered, but didn’t and didn’t want to wait at this point. So found a Limited that fit the bill that was inbound to one of the dealers I was talking to and jumped on it. Had it 2 weeks as of today and have put just under 800 miles on it. Loving it so far.

Some people seem to be doing better on pricing, but I think they either negotiated early on when ordering — before the dealers realized these were going to be hard to come by. Or they’re in an area where people don’t buy many large SUVs. Seems like some of the best deals I found when searching were in areas that 4x4 isn’t in demand. And yet, most of the time if I found one listed online somewhere I would call only to be told it was already sold/traded or at least spoken for. It took me over 12 weeks of looking and all I wanted was a 4x4 Platinum or Limited (with 302A), 2nd row buckets and heavy tow package, no rear seat entertainment as I didn’t want to pay $2K for that crap. Wanted Magnetic with Ceramic interior but ended up with silver on ebony, which was my second choice or actually first choice on the Limited.

 

[jgudnason]

I’m in the Denver area and large SUVs are a constant thing here. Local dealers can’t keep Limited and Platinum models on. The lot. They all do have a couple XLTs and are cutting deals on those. I only managed $1500 total in Ford incentives, plus another $2500 off on my Max 4x4 Limited. Wanted the Platinum, but couldn’t find one with the right options anywhere in 1000 miles for over 3 months of looking. I should have ordered, but didn’t and didn’t want to wait at this point. So found a Limited that fit the bill that was inbound to one of the dealers I was talking to and jumped on it. Had it 2 weeks as of today and have put just under 800 miles on it. Loving it so far.

Some people seem to be doing better on pricing, but I think they either negotiated early on when ordering — before the dealers realized these were going to be hard to come by. Or they’re in an area where people don’t buy many large SUVs. Seems like some of the best deals I found when searching were in areas that 4x4 isn’t in demand. And yet, most of the time if I found one listed online somewhere I would call only to be told it was already sold/traded or at least spoken for. It took me over 12 weeks of looking and all I wanted was a 4x4 Platinum or Limited (with 302A), 2nd row buckets and heavy tow package, no rear seat entertainment as I didn’t want to pay $2K for that crap. Wanted Magnetic with Ceramic interior but ended up with silver on ebony, which was my second choice or actually first choice on the Limited.

I got mine on Dec 23, some of the first to land in Alberta (Canada), one of two Platinums the dealer had. Test drove on the 20th, had everything i was looking for except bench (settled for Captains).. Didn't want to wait 2-3 months for an order. $2500 in incentives and otherwise it was sticker..
Plat Max, HD Tow, all weather mats, roof rack, no entertainment. Magnetic with dark interior.

The more i read these threads, the happier I am with the decision to grab it vs waiting. (we were thinking blue, and bench, but this is okay)

 

[Scottorama]

9500 Tahoes in March to Ford's 5600 Expis.

Granted, Ford's 5600 includes the SWB and LWB, so if you include the 4400 Burbs with the Tahoes, you get to about 14,000 units from The General. But you have to include the Yukon and the Yukon XL to get to 20,000.

And don't forget the escalades, another 3303 units sold.

 

[Dormammu]

Some here don't understand this and constantly argue it.

I've noticed my local dealer can't keep platinums for more than a few days. He's got XLT's sitting on the lot for 90 days according to cargurus. I just assumed it was a local thing.

If you look at Fords forecasting on the dealers retail order mix guide, they predicted 38% XLT, 44% Limited, and only 12% Platinum. Remaining 6% XL/SSV. 26% Plat is remarkable and might account for the delay with 22 inch rims earlier in the year.

Forecast/guide:
http://www.diehlford.com/images/pdf/ordering-guides/expedition.pdf

This was our experience. It took almost 3 mos for us to even find a platinum to test drive. They are on the lot for just a few days! Well, except for the black on black we didn’t want. The platinum we bought was a dealer trade and wasn’t even entered into their stock yet. They had it less than 24 hrs when we bought it.

 

[JExpedition07]

9500 Tahoes in March to Ford's 5600 Expis.

Granted, Ford's 5600 includes the SWB and LWB, so if you include the 4400 Burbs with the Tahoes, you get to about 14,000 units from The General. But you have to include the Yukon and the Yukon XL to get to 20,000.

Thanks for clarifying wasn’t sure

 

[Paddler]

Its pretty simple.......The entry level XLT is way overpriced for the market. Ford had a year long fire sale on the 2017's, knocking $10,000 to $15,000 of the sticker just to get rid of them. The bargain hunters and budget minded people all bought the 2017, leaving no customers for the cheaper XLT 2018's. Drop the 2018 XLT price by $10,000 and they will start selling.

Also, there is new competition from the Chevy Traverse/Buick Encore that are stealing sales from both the Ford and GM full sized market. GM sold over 30,000 of these vehicles last months. Interior sizes between the GM mid sized vehicles and the regular sized Expedition are not that much different, but the price of the GM vehicles averages $20,000 to $30,000 cheaper. If you have an average sized family and don't tow anything, its hard to justify buying an Expedition XLT when the Traverse and/or Encore has similar interior space for so much less cost.

http://media.gm.com/dld/content/Page...March-2018.pdf

Maybe. Although, at $58K out the door, my Max XLT 4X4 doesn't seem unreasonable. I certainly wouldn't pay the extra $15K or so to tart it up. No way I'd have bought a discounted 2017, either, with all the improvements on the 2018. 5600 Expy's a month is lots better than the 3d Generation, which I think was selling at about 40,000/yr. Ford gave up lots of market share taking so long to introduce the 4th Gen. For towing, reliability, etc, the Expedition is just a better vehicle than any GM product. I got my Consumer Reports in the mail yesterday, the Tahoe, Yukon, Suburban, Escalade, etc, don't even come close.

 

[aggiegrad05]

And don't forget the escalades, another 3303 units sold.

But only if you’re going to include the Navi numbers as the Escalade competes with that, not the Expi.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Scottorama]

Maybe. Although, at $58K out the door, my Max XLT 4X4 doesn't seem unreasonable. I certainly wouldn't pay the extra $15K or so to tart it up. No way I'd have bought a discounted 2017, either, with all the improvements on the 2018. 5600 Expy's a month is lots better than the 3d Generation, which I think was selling at about 40,000/yr. Ford gave up lots of market share taking so long to introduce the 4th Gen. For towing, reliability, etc, the Expedition is just a better vehicle than any GM product. I got my Consumer Reports in the mail yesterday, the Tahoe, Yukon, Suburban, Escalade, etc, don't even come close.

Its too early to tell about the Expedition reliability, they have only been on the road for at most 4 months. Wait a year to get some real data to do the comparison. There have already been 2 recalls on the new Expeditions, and numerous people on here have reported issues with the new model year, especially electrical gremlins. Its just to early to tell if the Expedition will be better, worse, or the same as GM in quality and reliability.

 

[JExpedition07]

When the 3rd gen was released it sold about 91,000 units it’s first year, a lot more than projected this go round if you want to talk units sold the 3rd gen was more successful. Pricing is simply too high 58k for a XLT truck is ridiculous. Mine was $35,000 and now for the same truck it’s $58,000?! No thanks.

 

[mssbf2011]

@Scottorama Is there a link to the 2018 Expedition recalls? I was unable to find them on the Ford Owners website.

Apologies for going slightly off topic here

 

[Flexpedition]

Maybe. Although, at $58K out the door, my Max XLT 4X4 doesn't seem unreasonable. I certainly wouldn't pay the extra $15K or so to tart it up.

The MSRP on a 2018 XL MAX 4X4 is $52K and I've seen dealers listing them for $47ish. What amount of tarting up does your XLT have over the XL?

 

[Scottorama]

@Scottorama Is there a link to the 2018 Expedition recalls? I was unable to find them on the Ford Owners website.

Apologies for going slightly off topic here

Here you go:

https://www.cars.com/articles/2018-ford-expedition-lincoln-navigator-recall-alert-1420698850148/

https://www.cars.com/articles/2018-ford-expedition-recall-alert-1420698206057/

There may be more, these are just the 2 I have seen so far

 

[shane_th_ee]

Your point on competition is true and they are just too expensive to sell as they once did. GM sells about 20,000 Tahoes alone monthly, ford sold 5600 expeditions, the expy is still being blown out of the water.

Pricing is simply too high 58k for a XLT truck is ridiculous. Mine was $35,000 and now for the same truck it’s $58,000?! No thanks.

I'm curious: how much do you think GM is charging for those 20,000 Tahoes each month?

 

[JExpedition07]

I'm curious: how much do you think GM is charging for those 20,000 Tahoes each month?

The spread is huge. Shop both. GM asking is on average $3,000-$4,000 lower and with incentives and negotiations you easily get $10k off sticker. You can be in a decent LT for high $40s. My uncle just switched to GMC from ford, he’s always bought big fords and the spread was nearly $14,000 in GMs favor on a F-350 King Ranch vs 3500 Denali with incentives and negotiations on both. His last truck was a 2015 F-450 KR, they wanted nearly $10,000 more today than in 2015 for the same truck. Fords pricing and lack of negotiation is losing them customers. For a Tahoe you can get into for $47,000 the ford would be $57,000 lol.


The thing is a vehicle is a depreciating asset, only emotions come into play with these transaction prices, they aren’t worth what people pay. These are becoming a consumer only vehicle. The bottom line is it’s a tool for driving, that’s the way companies look at it and it’s the way I look at it. Ford always was the better value for years offering lower prices for a good truck, not so much right now. Can’t argue sales are up though somethings working.