Didn't see this one coming...

13COBRA

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jtfx6552

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Ford makes money on all these cars. If they didn't they wouldn't make them.

Are you guys going to tell men next that Hellcat's, Z06s, Z28s and Grand sports are all money losers?

I guess a course on capitalism and public companies and accounting are in order.

The board would run the CEO out on rails of they built money losers on purpose.
 

13COBRA

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Ford makes money on all these cars. If they didn't they wouldn't make them.

Are you guys going to tell men next that Hellcat's, Z06s, Z28s and Grand sports are all money losers?

I guess a course on capitalism and public companies and accounting are in order.

The board would run the CEO out on rails of they built money losers on purpose.

So, manufacturers wouldn't develop a car and lose money on it? A dealership wouldn't sell a car and lose money on it? A company wouldn't produce a product and sell it at a loss?

You're wrong.
 

DHG1078

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Ford makes money on all these cars. If they didn't they wouldn't make them.

Are you guys going to tell men next that Hellcat's, Z06s, Z28s and Grand sports are all money losers?

I guess a course on capitalism and public companies and accounting are in order.

The board would run the CEO out on rails of they built money losers on purpose.

I'm not saying the halo mustangs lose money, but companies do make cars that lose money. Ford GT and the bughatti veyron come to mind.

Fiat loses money on every Fiat 500e they sell.
 

jtfx6552

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So, manufacturers wouldn't develop a car and lose money on it? A dealership wouldn't sell a car and lose money on it? A company wouldn't produce a product and sell it at a loss?

You're wrong.
I can't believe you actually can think that.

**LEAVE THE INSULTS OUT OF THINGS. THIS IS NOT SMACKDOWN.**
 
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jtfx6552

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I'm not saying the halo mustangs lose money, but companies do make cars that lose money. Ford GT and the bughatti veyron come to mind.

Fiat loses money on every Fiat 500e they sell.
Once government subsidies are involved, all bets are off. Electric cars are their own animal, near as I can tell Tesla is a complete money loser on every level.

But because they can sell carbon credits, they are "profitable".
 

13COBRA

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I can't believe you actually can think that. Shows what the level of intelligence is needed to work at a dealer.

Insulting my intelligence. lol

So you mean to tell me that nothing is ever sold if it's not profitable? I just sold 2015 F-150 leftover this morning and lost $7,454.
 

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They indeed did make serious bank on the GT500 back then.

The margins are going to continue to get thinner on this stuff. At the time, they had to make good money to justify even building it and it wasn't as sophisticated as it is now, or will be. It also wasn't the market it is now. Now, performance vehicles are integral to attracting younger consumers, the market is more competitive, and they have an offset in the Raptor that acts as a ****ing absolute cash register.

I know a ton of dudes very, very well from the 05/06 GT. Each of them will tell you a different number on the program budget. Usually they say the program was narrowly profitable. I don't really believe that after the expense of the billet control arms on the early cars, but you couldn't spend a billion cash and get the advertising that car brought. It was on magazines for literally a decade. In that sense, who gives a shit what it cost.

New GT is tougher to call. Do you count race program budget since the road car and race car are so tied together? You wouldn't have had either if you hadn't had both. Regardless, I think Ford would have cut the check in the total amount of the program just to win LM on the 50th anniversary.
 

DHG1078

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Manufacturers, especially domestic manufacturers, sold small and medium sized cars at a loss for a while, and sometimes still do, and depended on strong truck sales to make up for it. Ford continues to lose money in other markets.

Its not a great idea to perpetually lose tons of money on these segments, but sometimes a small loss today leads to big profits later. Manufacturers are willing to lose a little, or make no money on small cars, in the hopes those buyers (often first time buyers) will continue to return to the brand.
 

jtfx6552

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Insulting my intelligence. lol

So you mean to tell me that nothing is ever sold if it's not profitable? I just sold 2015 F-150 leftover this morning and lost $7,454.


Did you buy it to lose money on it? Or did it just work out that way?
 

GT Premi

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...

So you mean to tell me that nothing is ever sold if it's not profitable? I just sold 2015 F-150 leftover this morning and lost $7,454.

That's just one of the ways "funny money" works. I bet your books were still in the black at the end of that month and for the year.

Saying you took a "loss" on a car doesn't tell the whole story. You have inventory. You have to move inventory. You have a bottom line to meet. You meet the bottom line.

If you sell a Fiesta at a 50% discount then sell a GT350 with a $15K markup, where did you "lose" money? The bottom line will still say you turned a profit. Dealerships have played that word game for decades. Take a "loss" on one car and not budge on a different car in inventory. It always offsets. That's why I don't buy the "we're taking a loss on this one" line.
 

DHG1078

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That's just one of the ways "funny money" works. I bet your books were still in the black at the end of that month and for the year.

Saying you took a "loss" on a car doesn't tell the whole story. You have inventory. You have to move inventory. You have a bottom line to meet. You meet the bottom line.

If you sell a Fiesta at a 50% discount then sell a GT350 with a $15K markup, where did you "lose" money? The bottom line will still say you turned a profit. Dealerships have played that word game for decades. Take a "loss" on one car and not budge on a different car in inventory. It always offsets. That's why I don't buy the "we're taking a loss on this one" line.

You don't buy the "we're taking a loss" line, yet acknowledge they do take losses on cars?
 

jtfx6552

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Any business can lose money on one transaction and make it up on another. Any company selling something occasionally has to sell at a loss.

The point is, only under very special rare circumstancs will they plan to do so. And in those cases, there is some other off setting benefit to do so.

There is nothing that indicates to me that the current crop of non exotic performance cars are loss leaders. Especially the Fords, since they have sold with no discounts, and in most cases with ADMs. Ford isn't going to lose money and let their Dealers make many K per car.

I have no doubt that Chevy lost money on the Z28, but I don't think that was planned, they just screwed up and mis judged the market.
 

ON D BIT

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Thanks Dave!

Yes with the $20k rebates on 2 year old brand new z28 gm lost money. Same with the Viper with dodge. However how many men went in to see the Viper and then walked out with the caravan for his family?
 

VRYALT3R3D

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They made 5 figures after paying for R&D? Advertising? Promotional events? Running the piss out of test cars?

I'd like to see a source to even halfway believe that's factual.

My 14 had an MSRP of $65,345. Invoice of right above $60k. $2,100 in holdback, so I bought it for $58k from Ford. So they produced the vehicle and developed it for $48k or less?

I'm 99% sure that's incorrect, but if you have proof I'd love to see it.
Amortization and economies of scale....
 

ON D BIT

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No. R-E-A-D! They're not losing anything on the bottom line.
That's just one of the ways "funny money" works. I bet your books were still in the black at the end of that month and for the year.

Saying you took a "loss" on a car doesn't tell the whole story. You have inventory. You have to move inventory. You have a bottom line to meet. You meet the bottom line.

If you sell a Fiesta at a 50% discount then sell a GT350 with a $15K markup, where did you "lose" money? The bottom line will still say you turned a profit. Dealerships have played that word game for decades. Take a "loss" on one car and not budge on a different car in inventory. It always offsets. That's why I don't buy the "we're taking a loss on this one" line.

No. R-E-A-D! They're not losing anything on the bottom line.

Wow for you to question his business without knowing him or his area or his books is bold.

Let put it this way a gentleman once stated that every year he ran his Scottsdale dealership they took a loss on new car sales every single year he owned the dealer.
The margins on new car sales are very low and once you factor in below msrp/invoice pricing, carrying costs, interest, advertising, sales, financing, dealer prep, utilities, land costs the margins are even lower.

Luckily new car sales is only one piece of the revenue stream for dealerships. And no 2 $20k adm sales do not make up the difference of selling 1k cars near invoice.
 

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