Ford tells us that J.D. Power tells them that “30 percent of new vehicle shoppers who walk away from a dealership do so because the dealer did not have the exact vehicle with the colors and options they wanted.” Yeah, right. That what they say… Never mind. As suspicious as this factoid may be, Ford has decided it should use one of them there computer-type things to “determine the vehicle configurations customers in different regions of the country most want.” And once they do that, why not “significantly reduce the number of orderable combinations across its vehicle lineup”? You know; like, I’m thinking… Honda! “For example, the new 2010 Ford Fusion will be available in 104 popular orderable combinations, compared with 2,602 configurations for the 2008 model year. For the entire Ford brand, the company has reduced orderable configurations by 90 percent from the 2008 model year.” No seriously. This makes sense. It’s a good sign the lights are [still] on in Dearborn. Long overdue.
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That sounds like a great plan. I’m sure that would help a guy like me out that tends to just do a build to order and wait 6 to 8 weeks for the vehicle to arrive. Plus I prefer factory installed options as I hate dealer installs as sometimes they do a bad job, and I always suspect that they overcharge for their labor.
Ford is finally copying the Japanese and Koreans with set trim levels and minimal available stand alone options. It will save manufacturing costs, allow dealers to stock every combination more easily, and allow customers to find the exact car they want.
Yes there will be a few who like to factory order oddball combinations, but those people are rapidly losing any choice in the matter.
Yet another example why Ford seems to “get it”.
Take a look at a GM option sheet lately? It looks like the Matrix code with all those numbers, letters, and symbols. A lot of options require “Special group 9XY#” and “Available on LXT models only”.
Have three basic trim packages: Base, Sport, and Luxury. Keep transmission choice, sunroof, Sat/Nav, and leather seats as stand alone options available on ALL models. Keep the sillier stuff as dealer accessories.
Ha! They live in paradise!
The last number I heard from Volkswagen was that more than 60% of their cars sold in Europe are CUSTOM-BUILT: Customer goes to dealer, picks from a dazzling array of options, colors, engines, order goes in computer, and if everything goes according to plan (often it does not) the customer gets his custom car.
We gave up on calculating the possible combinations. The number we worked with back when was that there are 1.5 identical Volkswagens on the road.
Trouble is, the customer doesn’t value the bespokeness of the vehicle, they think the choosing is a pain.
About 15 years ago, I suggested to bring the available option combos down to a few thousand, and sell the custom model at a premium – think “Passat Robert Ferango” – they thought I was kidding.
I used to sell Fords, and you have no idea how many locates we would do because the Fusion we had on the lot was missing that one option the customer had to have. It is so much easier to sell Hyundais now. Mr. Customer, you have 3 trim levels: GLS, SE and Limited. Which one do you want and what color? Done
If I’m buying a new car, I’m willing to wait 6-8 weeks to have it built the way I want, with the colors I want. That being said, Ford is dramatically reducing the interior and exterior color choices even if you order from the factory.
If I have to settle for something close, I may as well save the money and buy a 2 year old used version. Or, just keep what I already own.
Just another example of how globalization is reducing our choices, not increasing them.
Does give me some hope for Ford if they really keep on with actual, logical improvements. Option overload does not help customers at all.
When I bought my Honda Fit last month, I had 6 choices (not including color): base, sport, sport+navigation — each with auto or manual transmission. That was it.
I remain cautiously optimistic for Ford’s future. They do seem to get it, at least a bit.
taxman:
Amen.
Soon our entire lives will be reduced to option A, B, or C.
@taxman100- You usually don’t lose too many features in these packages, they just force you to buy things as a package. The main loss is in color choices. (the main thing I hate is ending up with black interiors with sport models always…)
I am with taxman100. If I am going to plunk down >$20K, I want it exactly the way I want it, or I am not spending the money. I am currently nearly tempted by the VW Jetta TDI Sportwagon. I want it in Laser Blue with a tan interior. VW says NIEN – you can have gray or black with Laser Blue. WTF?!? All they have to do is tell the robots to deliver a tan interior at the right time. Obviously they can do it for a customer in Germany – why not an American one?
I also want a 6spd manual and no rear airbags – good luck finding that on a dealer’s lot. At least around me, they are all autotragics with rear bags. I would be more than happy to order it and wait for it, but I still can’t get blue on tan.
@ krhodes1 :
Out of curiosity, why the aversion to the rear airbags? Just a cost/not going to have rear passengers issue?
Blech.
I don’t mind if they want to restrict the variation in the cars stocked by dealers to a few specific packages, but please, give me the option to do a custom order with exactly what I want. I don’t mind waiting.
For every customer like taxman or krhodes that want their car built exactly the way they want it, there are five, or ten, or twenty customers that find themselves paralyzed in the face of too much choice. There is such a thing as too much choice, especially if you are unwilling to wait for it.
This is a smart move for Ford.
krhodes1, exactly. I can’t understand why they limit exterior/interior colour combinations. When I bought my A3, I wanted Ocean Blue with a black interior, but that combination isn’t allowed. They can obviously build it: the assembly line in Germany that built by car would also be building them for European markets where that combination (and any other) can be ordered. So why can’t I have it?
Just don’t bundle the sun/moonroof with other desirable options
JUST BEACUSE I WANT A NICE STEREO, I DON’T NEED A HOLE CUT IN MY ROOF TO GET IT.
Thank you.
That’s why I walked out of the Ford dealer a few months back.
I asked if they had, or could get a 4cyl manual transmission Fusion station wagon. I was even willing to settle for a new Focus wagon.
They don’t sell wagons, but tried to point me to some huge ridiculous SUV/CUV pig … automatic tranny only. No thanks.
Not only will the reduction in vehicle combinations improve Ford’s bottom line, vastly improve the sales experience, and reduce customer confusion – it will also improve their reliability. When you keep building something the same way you have a much better chance of doing it right.
So reducing vehicle combinations yields many, many benefits for Ford. With their warranty costs at a Detroit 3 best 2% of sales, they now have a shot at reducing that further. And reducing warranty costs improves customer retention, as millions of former GM buyers can attest.
This is a big plus for Ford all the way around. Allan Mulally is merely taking the best practices from the companies that are crushing him in profits. That’s very smart and improves Ford’s chances of long-term survival.
For those that want to be picky about options and combinations – wouldn’t you rather get a car that stays together as it was intended than get a car with that one additional option you wanted?
This is an ASSININE move by Ford!
The article starts off by saying that 30% of the customer walk away (i.e. DON’T BUY) because the lot DOESN’T have a vehicle with the combination of options that they want. So, Fords brilliant solution is to cut the possible configurations down by 90%??? WTF? Let’s see, “If we just don’t GIVE them the options, then the ignorant assed customers will just accept whatever we force on them.” Back to days of; “You can have it in any color you want, as long as it’s black.” Is that it?
But apparently, judging by the posts on here, the majority REALLY ARE that F@$%ing STUPID…
Justin Berkowitz :
Why no rear airbags? Because I am a cheap b@stard. I rarely have rear passengers, so why pay the up-front cost to put them in, the recurring cost in terms of added wieght, and the potential cost to fix them. I would cheerfully delete the front airbags as well, I always wear my seatbelt. How about just not getting in the accident in the first place by paying attention?
I am firmly of the opinion that the best thing we could do for safety would be a six inch spike in the middle of the steering wheel pointed at the driver’s chest.
Back to original formula: “Give them any color they want as long as it black”.
The whole concept is build on asinine notion that customers are walking off because their dream car is not on the lot. Lets assume, that customer is willing to wait for “his/her” car a couple of weeks, but salesman is an …hole and priced car based on his level of commission requirements? How often that scenario happens?
dean, then why don’t they keep common packages for customers that don’t want choices
and keep options for us that do
i recently ended up skipping on a top of the line SEL tiguan because its only available in leather
suprisingly the fords i could get in a high trim without the leather ;p
The article starts off by saying that 30% of the customer walk away (i.e. DON’T BUY) because the lot DOESN’T have a vehicle with the combination of options that they want. So, Fords brilliant solution is to cut the possible configurations down by 90%??? WTF? Let’s see, “If we just don’t GIVE them the options, then the ignorant assed customers will just accept whatever we force on them.” Back to days of; “You can have it in any color you want, as long as it’s black.” Is that it?
I’m guessing you’ve never sold cars before.
Back in the late ’90s I sold Saturns. Saturns were odd in that you could get them in a fairly customized fashion. Cruise control with manual windows and locks. ABS and traction control with no A/C. Alloy wheels and a spoiler with crank windows and no cassette or CD. Crap like that.
Customers DO walk when they realize that the car they were excited about just a moment ago could instead be had with fog lamps and seat heaters. They concoct some asinine combination of options that no one has in stock, place an order, and then in the ten weeks that pass they wander over to the Honda store and pick up an Accord. “The EX just has all that stuff!”
So now I’ve got a car in stock with plastic wheel covers, seat heaters, fog lamps, no sunroof and no ABS that nobody else in their right mind would buy. It sits for months rotting away, eating up lot fees, until it’s heavily discounted to the point that some bargain-hunter will take it.
“Wow, I can’t believe someone would order leather and no sunroof or CD player but I’ll take it for $3,000 off!”
This is an excellent move by Ford for all the reasons everyone else listed: quality, savings, and customer satisfaction. Just ask Honda.
The 5% of customers that want some heavily customized car cost Ford a very disproportionate amount of money for their business. Those folks can go to VW instead; just look what a boon all the customization has been to VW’s quality scores.
@rtt
So you went into a dealership and asked for a product you knew they didn’t have?
What exactly were you trying to accomplish there? Try walking into a Honda, Toyota, or several other brands and ask for a wagon…especially one that is not a subcompact.
And the closest thing to a Ford wagon (with an I4 and MT) would be the Mazda3.
For those who think that more factory-built configurations equal less reliability…
What about Scion? Aren’t they supposed to be really customizable? And aren’t they basically on par with “regular Toyota” when it comes reliability and such? What am I missing here?
(I’m speaking as someone who hasn’t step foot in a Scion dealership, and have absolutely no idea how most Scions sold are customized in any way/shape/fashion.)
@helius
What about Scion? Aren’t they supposed to be really customizable? And aren’t they basically on par with “regular Toyota” when it comes reliability and such? What am I missing here?
Scion is similar to Honda, in that they have a limited amount of trim levels, and the customization is dealer installed options.
@ helius:
The Scions are indeed highly customizable — AT THE DEALER. The options are largely add-ons, not fundamental choices such as interior fabric or color choices, transmission, power accessories, etc.
As they come from the factory, Scions probably have far fewer choices than comparable Toyota models. A few years ago when I was looking at a new xB, the only choices (from the factory) were exterior color and transmission. Period.
MH900e and wave54:
I guess now I know what I was missing. :)
Forbes made the point in the late ’70s, comparing an Accord with a T-Bird (IIRC): the Accord had something like a dozen option combos (I think there were only three colors), while the Ford had something like 30,000. (I don’t recall why they paired those two models, probably because they represented the extremes.) Ford put itself at a competitive disadvantage because of what it cost to build that flexibility into the system. Selling one-size-fits-all models doesn’t seem to have hurt Honda.
Scion is similar to Honda, in that they have a limited amount of trim levels, and the customization is dealer installed options.
And it’s freaking brilliant. It’s literally one or two options, and everything else can be had, or not. Scion is better at it than Honda, IMO.
My brother just bought an xD because he wanted VSC, and the Honda Fit he fell in love with bundles it with NAVIGATION. Sure, I’ll drop $2000 for that, instead of $300 for a Garmin. Derrrr. =p (On the xB it comes standard, not that we had even remote interest in the xB)
At Scion, there were only two things to pick – VSC, and the color. Everything else, we just went down the list.
Done! Brilliant!
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@TEXN3
So you went into a dealership and asked for a product you knew they didn’t have?
What exactly were you trying to accomplish there? Try walking into a Honda, Toyota, or several other brands and ask for a wagon…especially one that is not a subcompact.
And the closest thing to a Ford wagon (with an I4 and MT) would be the Mazda3.
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(the formatting tools on this site are useless … the editor keeps throwing out my html tags .. grrr)
No, actually I was looking at a used Focus wagon. But I talked for a while with the salesman. Nice guy. They just don’t have the product I wanted. Nor does Honda or Toyota as you pointed out.
There are very few wagons out there, especially with a manual tranny. It’s a huge hole in the vehicle line-ups.
It’s probably a good idea on Ford’s part to simplify the model lineups. Should help reduce costs I’d expect.
But might it not be a better idea to add back a product where there’s currently very little competition ? Since boosting sales should be high priority right about now.
And no, The Mazda3 is too small in the cargo bay. Currently the only decent option is the Subaru Outback.
Wolven: But apparently, judging by the posts on here, the majority REALLY ARE that F@$%ing STUPID…
See what happens when you fail your math classes, kids? Mathematical implications in real-life will fly right over your head and you end up making a dunce of yourself by saying things like this.
Be cool, stay in school.
Good idea on Fords part, but not sure it will translate into a lot more sales. I sold Dodge trucks and cars a few years ago. Lots of people always wanted their car with a certain set of options on it. Some people wanted us to locate or build a car for them. Generally, if the dealership made a good enough deal on a car we had in stock, they would buy our car though. I rarely ordered a car for a customer, and when I did, my manager would sometimes flub the details.
I sold a loaded 2001 Grand Caravan AWD ES to a customer who was very particular about his new minivan. He wanted a Silver GC. My manager ordered the car in white. The customer was upset, but we gave him an extra $1,000 or so off so that he would buy it. He didn’t want to wait another 6 weeks anyway.
I will always remember delivering that car, because I saw the odometer roll over to show 1 mile on it. The odometer showed zero miles on it when I was pulling it out of the detail bay, and rolled over to mile 1 while I was bringing it to my customer.
Chrysler did not reimburse the dealer for a full gas tank in 2001 to cut costs. Tacky. And the dealership I worked at was not going to eat the cost of filling up the new cars we sold. The dealership wasn’t small either, we sold approximately 75-100 new Dodges a month.
I compare the ordering options available on my 67 Ford Galaxie vs. a 09 Grand Marquis, or an 09 Sable, and wonder if we have really made any progress.
If they could do it in 1967 with clunky old technology, why not now? It makes it easier for the manfacturer, but not for me.
taxman100: I compare the ordering options available on my 67 Ford Galaxie vs. a 09 Grand Marquis, or an 09 Sable, and wonder if we have really made any progress.
On the 1967 Galaxie, virtually EVERYTHING was optional. Air conditioning, disc brakes, power brakes, power steering, a radio, nicer upholstery – virtually all of those had to be ordered at extra cost.
Today people don’t want to spend time wading through a thick book of options. They expect the basic car to be wheel-equipped. Plus, adding options makes it more difficult to determine the invoice price for the car.
Today, most buyers want to pick the trim level and the color, and then get down to haggling about the price. And Honda still allows SOME personalization of the car – it’s just that the options are dealer-installed. If you want different wheels, for example, the dealer will install them right there.
It’s going to take more than that. I don’t want front wheel drive. Therefore, no matter how many trim combinations Ford offers in FWD, I’m not going to buy one. On the other hand, I will and have waited three months for a car to be built exactly to my specifications.
In Japan, there is a custom bicycle manufacturer who builds only to special order. In the showroom, the salesman determines the correct dimensions to perfectly fit the customer and sends the data to the factory. The finished bicycle is ready three days later. Actually, they could just as easily offer next day delivery. However, they believe that waiting a couple of days intensifies the customer’s experience.
As a side note, every single climate control unit (AC/heater/fancoil/etc) built and sold by Trane/American Standard is custom built from the ground up with a bewildering array of thousands of options, down to the color of the exterior cabinet to the number of loops in the heater coil. Yet they make money and have for nearly a century. Hmmmmm.