Ford enthusiasts and (some of the well-informed) Ford dealers are well aware that the 2015 F-150 is on its way, marking the introduction of the 13th generation of America’s best-selling pickup truck. But there are still plenty of people who want to purchase the current 12th-generation model, so it only makes sense for some Blue Oval dealers to begin stockpiling the current truck ahead of the unveiling and subsequent market launch of the new model in order to avoid any production shortages and other launch-related issues that could negatively impact them.
Mark Smith, president of Dick Smith Ford in Raytown, Missouri, said that his store has been asking Ford for additional 2014 F-150 inventory as demand for pickup trucks continues to grow.
“We’ve been ordering as many of the current model as we can,” Smith said in a telephone interview. “There will be some plant downtime that we have to contend with.”
The Motrolix Take
There are plenty of people who really like the current 12th-gen F-150 — and we can’t blame them: it’s a mighty-fine truck. So dealers’ ability to sell the present-day model is vital to keep sales volumes high as Ford switches over to the (as-of-yet concealed) all-new truck. Given that, no matter how good the planning leading up to initial production, there always seem to be some kind of launch-related issues with when all-new models hit the market that always seemingly limit inventory availability, so it’s good that some dealers are thinking ahead and amassing as many current F-150s as they can.
But it’s also worth noting that FoMoCo recognizes the potential of a shortage, and that’s why it reportedly plans to produce the current and the next-gen models concurrently for a period of six months. So perhaps dealers needn’t worry about this all too much, as The Blue Oval has their back in this case.
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