Amid an already dramatic vehicle shortage and dealer anxiety, Ford Motor Co. has determined it must make even more production cuts at eight factories in North America, the company told manufacturing employees in a letter Wednesday.
“The global semiconductor shortage continues to affect global automakers and other industries in all parts of the world,” wrote John Savona, Ford vice president of manufacturing and labor affairs, in a letter to employees.
“While we continue to manufacture new vehicles, we’re prioritizing building our customers’ vehicles that were assembled without certain parts due to the industry-wide semiconductor shortage. This is in line with our commitment to get our customers their vehicles as soon as possible and consistent with our forecasted supply.”
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The letter, obtained from two Ford sources by the Free Press, said:
- Chicago Assembly Plant will be down the weeks of July 5, 12, 19 and 26 and will run two shifts the week of Aug. 2. The plant builds Ford Explorer, Police Interceptor and Lincoln Aviator.
- Dearborn Truck Plant will run two crews the weeks of July 12, 19 and 26. The plant builds the F-150.
- Flat Rock Assembly Plant will be down the weeks of July 12 and 19. The plant builds Mustangs.
- Hermosillo Assembly Plant will run one of two shifts the weeks of July 12 and 19. The plant in Mexico builds the Bronco Sport and Maverick pickup.
- Kansas City Assembly Plant F-150 line will be down the weeks of July 12 and 19, while the KCAP Transit line will be down the week of July 19.
- Kentucky Truck Plant will be down the week of July 12 and will run two shifts the weeks of July 19, 26 and Aug. 2. The plant builds the Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator and Super Duty trucks.
- Louisville Assembly Plant will run on a reduced schedule the week of July 19. The plant builds the Escape and Lincoln Corsair.
- Oakville Assembly Complex will produce Nautilus only the weeks of July 19, 26 and Aug. 2. The plant in Canada builds the Edge and Lincoln Nautilus.
There may be more factory disruption in coming weeks.
“Individual powertrain and stamping plants will provide specifics around the operating patterns as confirmed,” Savona said in the letter. “Separately, Michigan Assembly Plant will be down the weeks of July 5 and July 26 due to an unrelated parts shortage.”
Ford said it is making the most of its available semiconductor allocation, “finding unique solutions to provide as many high-quality vehicles as possible” to its dealers and customers.
Kelli Felker, Ford global manufacturing and labor communications manager, acknowledged the content of the letter obtained by the Free Press and immediately released a media statement with the fact set.
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Analyst Adam Jonas at Morgan Stanley sent an investor note dated Tuesday that said he spoke on Monday with a Ford dealer in the Tri-State area, which covers New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, “experiencing an acutely low level of new inventory in stock. Anecdotes from general managers like this can help serve as a barometer for the rate of change of the 2021 supply shortage.”
‘We’re (expletive)’
At issue for consumers and investors, as well as automotive executives, is whether the new inventory situation is getting worse.
The Ford dealer said this week, according to the Morgan Stanley letter:
- “Besides a few retail units (customer orders placed months ago) and about 5 or 6 Bronco Sports and 5 or 6 Mach-E units that have been built, we have no new stock units coming into the store… best case until September. And we see the reports every day.”
- “I think last Saturday we had 10 people come in the door. Typically for a store our size on the last Saturday in June we should have minimum 25 to 40 people through the door. We sold 4 cars last Saturday. Normally we’d have double digit sales on a Saturday this time of year and sometimes 15 to 18 in a day.”
- “We’re doing a good job of reaching out to our lease customers months out and telling them ‘when your lease is up we won’t have a car for you so you’ll need to place an order ahead of time.’ ”
- “I don’t know how we’re seeing the worst of it when we entered this month with 50 or 55 cars to sell. This month (July) we’ll have 30 cars to sell. And August we may have 5. I’d say August should be the ‘bottom’ and if it’s not the bottom we’re (expletive).”
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Contact Phoebe Wall Howard at 313-222-6512 orphoward@freepress.com.Follow her on Twitter@phoebesaid. Read more on Ford and sign up for our autos newsletter.