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WOW...just waded through this thread. Several observations...
1) This is 2009, not 1969. There is 1000% more information available with a mouse click today than was ever available prior to 10 yrs ago. Unfortunately, this availability of information has created a generation with a sense of entitlement and simultaneous fulfillment.
2) 5-10 yrs ago, the preorder situation never existed. If you heard of a new model, you waited until the debut model showed up in a showroom and either paid a significant market markup based on supply/demand or you waited or you placed an order and waited. In virtually all situations, you waited. Saw this with the 30th and 35th Anniversary Mustangs, the Thunderchicken, the 1979 Mercedes 300SD turbodiesel. If you have to be #1, get out the checkbook and pay for it. Anyone could have outbid on #1 and you'd be behind the wheel today.
3) There are startup issues with every single model debuted. That's why the line starts slowly. There isn't a product made that didn't start with a slow production line. We're not even 60 days into production. What do you expect, Scotty on the transporter deck beaming you your car the day after you ordered?
4) I'm just as frustrated; however, there isn't a system in play that can produce 15,000+ cars instaneously. Someone will be first and someone will be last. The production guideline was from production day 1 to 9/30/09. That means that someone's car won't come off the line until 9/30/09. We now know that some dealers did not take preorders. That means they could get an allocation for a vehicle, order it and have it go into production prior to a preordered car. That's how the game works. Your dealer is 1 of several 1,000. Each dealer gets allocations based on any number of factors programmed into the software. Therefore, you can't predict when yours will start on the line...and you're totally at the mercy of any startup issues, transportation issues, equipment issues, option issues, etc. Further, 15,000 units out of the total expected volume is just a pimple on the elephant's butt. It's a big world and a big picture. Let me recommend that you elevate your perspective to the top of the forest's canopy to see it.
5) I got to test drive one on the 3rd. It met all of my expectations and surpassed a few. I'm happy with my decision to forego a Challenger and order a Camaro. Because I want a white one, I can't even get my order in a position to go into the queue.
The solution is quite simple...either be patient and take what comes your direction or give up and go buy something else. I've been around long enough to learn that if I'm patient enough, I'll either get exactly what I want or I'll outlast someone with lesser patience and inherit their position.
Yes, I would have handled some things differently between the concept debut to preorders to start of production; however, the larger the organization, the more difficult it is to get things done and the concept of efficiency becomes one of interpretation.
The production model has been in play since October and available to anyone that wanted to take the time to read, absorb and understand it. All of these "delays" should not be a concern or surprise to anyone on this board. My hat is off to those that actually had the balls to put a car into production that doesn't look like a cookie cutter version of something else in the brand's line.
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