Lisa Drake, chief operating officer, North America, joined nearly 100 members of Ford Retired Engineering Executives (FREE) recently to talk about new product launches and connectivity.

Drake said Ford’s most recent product launches – the 2021 F-150, manufactured at the  Dearborn Truck and Kansas City Assembly Plants; the Mustang Mach-E, manufactured at the Cuautitlan Assembly Plant; and the Bronco Sport, manufacturing at the Hermosillo Assembly Plant – have gone very well.

Our launch performance improved substantially at 1 MIS (months in service) and 3 MIS is following suit versus where we were with our 2020 model year launches,” said Drake in a virtual presentation.  “It’s a pretty big proof point for us.”   

The new hybrid F-150 has many features that are resonating with customers, like Pro Power Onboard.

When you talk about a hybrid F-150 people don’t get too excited, but when you talk about an F-150 that can power up a job site, people get really excited,” said Drake, noting the recent situation in Texas where F-150 hybrids were used to help people without power. “We can’t make enough hybrid F-150s. It has great margins.  It’s great for the customer, and it contributes to CO2 reduction.  It’s a win across the board.”

The Mustang Mach-E is selling quickly on dealer lots with a turn rate of 4 days.

“The minute they hit the dealer they’re gone,” said Drake.  “The technology hit the mark, and I think we’re going to give Tesla a run for their money. They now have a real competitor with a really strong brand, and we’re looking at adding more capacity.”

Bronco Sport is also turning quickly on dealer lots in just 6 days.

“Dealers can’t get enough of them.  They’re getting a lot of conquest customers, and the brand is just taking off,” said Drake, noting that there is already a 2.5-year order bank for the full-size Bronco.  “The Bronco brand has incredible legs, and it’s just the beginning.” 

Drake explained how connectivity is helping the company improve product quality faster.

“In the past, we would launch a product and a great deal of time would pass between the time the customer bought the product and we were made aware of any issues,” she said.  “With over-the-air (OTA) updates and the ability to monitor the customers’ diagnostic trouble codes, we’re able to see data on a daily basis, catch issues and resolve them in some cases before the customer even knows that they exist.”

Ford is also using connectivity for material cost reduction as well.  Drake offered an example, citing the Passive Entry Passive Start (PEPS) system on the F-150, which enables the driver to unlock the car without using a key.

“The team monitored how often the PEPS was used on all the doors, and it turns out people were rarely using the feature on the rear doors of their F-150s,” she said.  “Based on that data monitoring alone, we made the decision to remove that cost from the truck.”