Thought this would apply to this thread (Kzinti works for Ford in KC)
KZINTI - Hello from Kansas City Assembly Plant. I have been dealing lately with a large group of customers tracking their 2006 Mustang orders through the system, and there have been some interesting questions regarding dealership allocations that have come up lately. I would like to have some sort of simple explanation, if possible, to pass along to the customers to help them understand what the allocations are, how they work, and how they can affect their orders in the system.
I appreciate any help you can give on this.
FORD SP&D - Hi. Basically, a dealer earns Mustang allocation each month (broken down by week) based on his sales and availability. Limited (controlled) commodities are also allocated by week. The dealer prioritizes his orders in the order bank. The system then selects orders based on the priority as well as available allocation. We are struggling with a lot of capacity and/or supplier issues including GTs, manual transmissions, the Pony package, and the 18" wheel so buildability is a big variable right now. Here's an example. Let's say a dealer designates a retail order that is a manual GT with the 18" wheel a high priority unit. The unit would NOT get selected unless the dealer has allocation for all three of these commodities. Thus a lower priority V6 unit could be selected instead. This unit would not be selected (and scheduled) until the dealer has allocation for Mustang, GT, manual transmission, and the 18" wheel. That's a quick overview. Let me know if you need more detail or if you were looking for something different.
KZINTI - Most of the customers I deal with are interested to know why smaller dealers get fewer allocations than larger dealerships. They figure that the orders ought to be taken on a first come- first served basis. I have talked with them regarding delays due to parts availability and such, and if their orders were delayed due to those things it would be more understandable. However, I have customers who have placed a 2006 order months ago, who are still in sequencing, while another order for the same options has already hit production that was placed two weeks ago. Any comments on any of this that I could pass along that might help them understand a little better?
Thanks again for your time and help.
FORD SP&D - Again, we allocate to the region and then to the dealer. A dealer selling product faster gets more product than a dealer moving units slower. (We do NOT keep a list of retail orders nationally and allocate based on this last, like a first-in-first-out philosophy .) Our dealers are empowered to prioritize their own orders. So, the customer really needs to have the following discussion with the dealer:
How many Mustangs do you earn per month?
How many similar equipped orders are ahead of mine?
If a customer places an order with a dealer who only sells one or two per month on average, it could be several months before their order is selected for scheduling. The same could happen with a dealer selling 30 per month if there are 60 orders ahead of this customer.
So…to summarize…the customer needs honest, frank feedback from their dealership.
I think that sums it up real nicely, honest, frank feedback from the dealership...
Well i just called the robot lady and she said my gt is to be built the week of oct 3rd so hopefully it will be in my driveway by oct 20th. I might get to drive it for a week or so before the snow flies. 
im so fed up with this ive been looking at used 01-02 vettes....and the kicker is ive ordered mine the exact same as many people, and before them and they got theirs before me 
