Lotsa Inventory [ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS]

[hawkbox]

Multiple stop sales and late deliveries haven't helped the UK figures.
For the next 6 months your only option will be a used car as all new sales are on hold until at least January and high chance the used car will have an open recall on it as well as only the first batch of cars (may/july'24) build are escaping the recall for now. Although they all had the water leak issue.

Ford are offering 0% apr this Quarter on cars they cant sell, but will lock it in.

I am tempted to trade to an adriatic blue version. It might arrive before my current deal ends.

Man, I wanted an Adriatic so badly - I actually had placed an order at a local PNW US dealer here for one in ABM but they pulled some BS and never actually had any allocations to give me so I found under MSRP at an out of state shop in the middle of the country that couldn't move the car we bought, called, and said take ma money! Oh well, maybe I will have the option for a second one here in the next year and will pick up a lightly pre-enjoyed pony in that fantastic color!

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[hawkbox]

Not sure about the Millies and Zoomies being into car and bike culture. Some may be, I think most don't care. They have Uber and those basterd E scooters.
You just have to look at the superbike owners, nearly all greyheads now. And they're getting too old for them and moving to ADV's.
I'm guessing cars are similar. Being a really small market for cars here, it's really hard to find an interesting new car affordable for normal human beings. In the 80's and 90's there was much better choice right through the price levels.

Whats interesting about that is it actually seems to be turning a strange corner up here in the PNW and I am starting to see younguns back at the shows and Cars and Coffee events - a lot of them actually which is making my heart warm. Its nice to see that the car culture may not die with all of us

 

[MidwayJ]

@hawkbox hints at the concept of "planned obsolescence".

The modern business model is to force everyone to keep paying forever, not just once. Like subscriptions, OEMs want you to buy/lease a new car every 3 years, just like a new iPhone every year, new fast fashion every season, etc. The name of the game across every industry is pumping out disposa-trash.

It's against OEM interests to make a reliable car that lasts forever. They want to make the quality barely good enough so the lawsuits cost the same as building it properly would cost. Because few people actually sue. And even if they lose lawsuits, delaying that business cost a few years down the line is more advantageous than spending it up front to build cars properly.

The cleverest Ford engineer designs stuff to break just after the warranty period, because then when you/2nd owner bring it in for service, they profit again. Then expensive parts, proprietary/anti-DIY stuff, it all adds to their bottom line.

It must be frustrating when everyone doesn't play, though. Toyota and Honda seem to have captured a little bit of market share since the 70s.

 

[keithwalton]

Cars used to rust and that would be the end of life for the majority of cars, it was seen as just one of those things.
Then they got on top of the rust problem (at significant cost) and cars started wearing out instead. They soon realised timing when things start to wear out is critical.
You don't want it to happen to the original owner / under warranty they'll go elsewhere for their next car. You also don't want it to happen to the 2nd owner as that'll hurt the resale value for the original owner. So third owner onwards became the sweetspot.

Which worked fine for a while but then original owners started extending deals beyond factory warranty and threw out all the age / mileage estimates.

However oems now require a minimum service life (msl) from all their component suppliers. If the part fails within msl the warranty cost is met by the supplier. if its beyond then the oem picks up the bill if the vehicle is still under warranty.

Service life costs money so parts are designed to on 6 sigma (99.999%) average meet the min life and not a lot more.

 

[hawkbox]

Cars used to rust and that would be the end of life for the majority of cars, it was seen as just one of those things.
Then they got on top of the rust problem (at significant cost) and cars started wearing out instead. They soon realised timing when things start to wear out is critical.
You don't want it to happen to the original owner / under warranty they'll go elsewhere for their next car. You also don't want it to happen to the 2nd owner as that'll hurt the resale value for the original owner. So third owner onwards became the sweetspot.

Which worked fine for a while but then original owners started extending deals beyond factory warranty and threw out all the age / mileage estimates.

However oems now require a minimum service life (msl) from all their component suppliers. If the part fails within msl the warranty cost is met by the supplier. if its beyond then the oem picks up the bill if the vehicle is still under warranty.

Service life costs money so parts are designed to on 6 sigma (99.999%) average meet the min life and not a lot more.

I would be shocked of the numbers actually add up to 5 nines, or even 4 nines for that matter. MSL is an interesting and precarious thing - 5% fail rate is pretty easy to maintain.

 

[Gregs24]

It must be frustrating when everyone doesn't play, though. Toyota and Honda seem to have captured a little bit of market share since the 70s.

I have no idea what he is on about - cars are far more reliable now than they have ever been.

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