There’s a plumbing problem in Dearborn as a number of Fords have been revealed ahead of schedule.
Two of last year’s biggest debuts, the Bronco and Bronco Sport, were outed months before their official unveilings on July 13. More recently, images of the 2022 Maverick and Fusion / Mondeo Active have surfaced online.
Ford is upset with the trend and sent a memo reminding people not to leak pictures or details about upcoming products. Sure enough, the memo itself was quickly leaked and picked up by Automotive News.
Also Read: 2022 Ford Maverick Snapped On The Assembly Line
The Bronco Sport leaked 126 days before its unveiling
According to the publication, the note said: “We cannot underscore enough the negative impact of these unfortunate actions on our collective business results, and we ask for your support to personally follow the confidentiality guidelines inherent in Ford’s Global Terms & Conditions.” The message went on to say the company has a “zero-tolerance policy for leaks emanating from our own team members, and we need all supplier personnel to adopt a similar approach regarding unauthorized disclosures of Ford confidential information.”
Ford seems to be particularly wary of suppliers, who have apparently been responsible for a number of recent leaks. Ford’s Vice President of Global Commodity Purchasing and Supplier Technical Assistance, Jonathan Jennings, reportedly made a thinly veiled threat in the memo as he noted “suppliers could face business repercussions and even recovery actions for damages tied to leaks caused or enabled by suppliers.”
While leaks are nothing new, they’ve become far more common in the smartphone era. With everyone carrying a camera in their pocket, it’s easy for people to snap photos of upcoming products.
As a result, we’ve seen an increasing number of pictures taken at factories and even private presentations. While that’s not how all leaks originate, they can reveal upcoming models months and even years ahead of time – which, obviously, is something automakers do not want.
