Overpromising on the Lightning:
“Any time you have a radical change to your most successful product, you really are betting the company,” William C. Ford Jr., Ford’s executive chairman, the long-reigning scion who tabbed Farley as CEO over internal rival Joe Hinrichs, told the Detroit News. “If this fails, it will have a hugely negative effect upon us. But I think it’s going to be just the opposite.”
Ford CFO John Lawler called Lightning “a game-changer” during a recent Bank of America event. “Seventy percent of the customers are new to the segment. I think there are a lot of folks out there that wanted the utility of a pickup truck. But they didn’t want what came with that from an environmental standpoint…”
Overpromising on 2023 earnings:
In terms of guidance, Ford said through Q3 it had earned $9.4 billion in adjusted EBIT toward its full-year range of $11 billion to $12 billion it affirmed in late July. "However, given effects of the UAW strike and with ratification of the tentative agreement with the union that was announced Wednesday night pending, Ford is withdrawing its guidance for full-year 2023 operating results," the company said in a statement.
They knew a contract negotiation was coming.
Overpromising on Canopy:
It began taking orders in Q3, but now only covers a pickup truck BED, not the van full of tools they promised in January 2022. And no connectivity to ADT as promised.
How long will the BOD and Ford family tolerate this? There is ZERO accountability for all these failures.