MAP Wholesale: What It Is and How to Take Advantage

MAP Wholesale is Ford's latest evolution of Rapid Replenishment and Configured Vehicle Wholesale, now rebranded as Market Aligned Production. This process offers dealers a second wholesale opportunity featuring preconfigured units often aligned with regional marketing campaigns. Ford has said these units will arrive more quickly than traditional wholesale orders, but the reality is more nuanced. This article breaks down what MAP is, how it works, and how you can strategically decide when to accept or decline these units.

What is MAP Wholesale?

MAP Wholesale takes place during the regular wholesale cycle. Ford withholds allocation from the prior wholesale, builds preconfigured units, and then offers them to dealers in the next wholesale. These units are marketed as arriving faster, but they follow the same production timeline as standard wholesale units—they’re just offered later, so they seem to arrive sooner. However, dealers have significantly less control over build configurations, which can impact inventory strategy. Despite this, there are scenarios where accepting MAP units makes sense.

How It Works

During the wholesale process, Ford Reps will open eCommitment, where dealers review their wholesale offerings. MAP units are loaded into the Ford Market Aligned Production Portal, accessible under "Useful Links" on WBDO's dashboard. Dealers must actively choose to accept or decline each MAP build.

How to Decide Whether to Accept or Decline MAP Units

Your decision should be based on the specific vehicle lines offered, current inventory needs, and configurations of units being offered. Here’s a general guideline:

If you are not struggling for allocation, be selective about accepting MAP units. You may have better control over your builds by taking standard allocation in wholesale.

If you need more allocation, accepting MAP units might be a strategic move, even if they aren't your preferred configurations.

For non-OTD vehicle lines (e.g., F-150s, Broncos), traditional wholesale is preferable since you have much more control of your builds. For example, Bronco MAP units are often soft top units. There is no guarantee the plant will accept the changes to the units when they are loaded into WBDO. Soft tops might be fine for your market, or they could not be. Knowing what your market desires and applying that knowledge to accepting or denying these units is critical to your inventory management.

For OTD vehicle lines, where Ford controls the configurations a bit more, MAP units could be beneficial depending on what is available. For example, Ford has repeatedly restricted Big Bend Bronco Sports during body code selection during normal wholesale and offered MAP Big Bend Bronco Sports to dealers. You might need more Big Bends and there is no guarantee what you will be allowed to choose during OTD week 1. You might want to consider accepting MAP units that are being restricted and are good sellers in your market.

Real-World Example: Precision MAP Recommendations

The following is a real set of recommendations offered to one of Precision’s dealerships. You can see making decisions on MAP units should be made using your data and what your dealership needs.

F-150: Decline MAP units. Current inventory doesn't need more XLT hybrids, and all available MAP units are Chrome packages. Accepting traditional wholesale units will be better for your inventory.

Bronco Sport: Accept the MAP unit offered. Your store has not committed to any Bronco Sports in wholesale yet, and adding one Big Bend MAP unit is the correct unit for your inventory and helps maintain a 90-day supply.

Escape: Decline. Your current inventory is sufficient, and the offered ST-Line Plus Hybrids don’t align with your dealership’s needs.

Explorer: Accept the Black Active MAP unit offered. You have already accepted seven Explorers via tradition wholesale, and adding one more aligns well with your inventory and keeping a 90-day supply.

Pro Tip: Modify MAP Units Before They Lock

If you accept MAP units, they will appear in WBDO later in the week. It’s critical to locate these units and adjust the engine, color, interior, and options as soon as possible. Once the build date is too close, modifications will be locked. It won't always be possible to make changes, but you should always try. Check out our previous post on modifying scheduled units for further guidance.

Let Precision Optimize Your Inventory Strategy

Keeping up with Ford’s evolving wholesale processes can be overwhelming. Precision specializes in Ford and Lincoln inventory management and ensures dealers receive the optimal mix of vehicles to maximize sales and minimize aging inventory. We’ll provide suggestions regarding accepting or declining both regular wholesale offerings and MAP unit offerings. We handle stock ordering in all realms—OTD week 1, OTD week 2, regular scheduling (non-OTD lines), and altering the accepted MAP units after they have been released in WBDO.

Book a demo today to see how our data-driven approach can help you take the right inventory and grow sales. We’ll pull your store’s actual data and show real-time opportunities for you in your market. No strings attached.