Days after reports surfaced about hundreds of 2024 Ford F-150 models being stranded in holding lots in Detroit, the brand has confirmed that shipments of the latest pickup to dealerships began last week.
During a recent interview with the Detroit Free Press, Ford North America’s product communications director, Mike Levine, emphasized that it’s standard practice for the brand to manufacture vehicles and store them. Ford has also implemented stricter quality checks across its model lineup. According to AutoForecast Solutions analyst Sam Fiorani, Ford has already rectified an issue with the headlamps of the 2024 F-150 before shipments to dealers began.
“We started shipping new 2024 F-150s to dealers beginning last week,” Levine said. “We will steadily increase shipments as we continue going through our quality checks to ensure they meet the quality our customers expect. We are shipping exactly when we said we would and feel good about getting these trucks to customers.”
Read: Ford Halts F-150 Lightning EV Shipments Over Unspecified Quality Issue
Ford also has an incentive to produce as many vehicles as possible, even if they are not ready to reach the hands of dealers and customers. According to automotive analyst John McElroy, vehicles are recorded as a sale for Ford the moment they leave the factory and not when they reach a dealership. Ford is happy to pay for the storage fees of these vehicles if it allows it to meet revenue guidance provided to Wall Street.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that the 2024 F-150 Lightning was also being held up after deliveries were paused on February 9 due to an undisclosed quality issue.
“Some launches are more critical than others, and no vehicle is more important to Ford’s bottom line and reputation than one with an F-Series badge — and two F-Series models have recently experienced hang-ups,” AutoPacific’s Paul Waatti told Auto News at the time. “Holding deliveries of the F-150 and F-150 Lightning until any issues get ironed out stings, but much less so than prematurely launching them with known problems.”
