I'm wondering the same. I was getting my Raptor serviced last week and was talking to the sales manager about these insane markups on Raptors/GT500s. He mentioned the future of car sales being the way Tesla does it- you order a car online without haggling with a salesperson and when it's ready, they park it in a numbered spot with the paperwork inside, where the customer picks it up.I wonder if moving to "Ford Blue" and "Ford Model e" will allow them to do anything weird like an IPO for Ford Model e?
Or if diversification will allow them to act independently financially, so if one branch suffers, its doesn't drag the other down?
Or is it just rebranding like Ford/Mercury/Lincoln?
I'm wondering the same. I was getting my Raptor serviced last week and was talking to the sales manager about these insane markups on Raptors/GT500s. He mentioned the future of car sales being the way Tesla does it- you order a car online without haggling with a salesperson and when it's ready, they park it in a numbered spot with the paperwork inside, where the customer picks it up.
He said Ford is doing the new Lightning like this and I'm wondering if it is Ford also seeing the future of car sales without dealers as we know them.
Interesting thought you have. I guess time will tell? When you say electric plants on the south, do you mean like in South America?This is about breaking the union.
The electric plants will be non union down south, the profit margins on electrics is 300% higher and growing... they don't want to payout increased profit shares to legacy employees.
The average Ford worker would lose upwards of 1 million dollars per person over a 30 year career.
Probably closer to 1.2-1.5M.
Meanwhile they are using ICE profits to subsidize their own demise.
I thought we had a decade or 2 but it looks like that isn't the case.
I know that Farley was furious when he found out about the dealer mark-ups on EVs like the Mach E. He mentioned going to a model like Tesla at least for EVs. I think this is the beginning of that transition.
I have said for years that dealerships, in their greed, will run themselves out of business. Especially once automakers in the US see how well the Tesla model works, as well as used car sales with the likes of Carvana. I think subscription services are coming to EVs as well instead of leases.
Nothing worse than a stupid car dealership so greedy as to mark something up so high that it just sits on a lot and rots.
That's not how Ford is doing the Lightning...
Your thoughts on this video?That's not how Ford is doing the Lightning...
I knew you would know the full details, but could you explain a little?
This sales manager said the Lightning customers were given a build number and some sort of login so that they could track the car as it was being built, and would get notifications when it's ready to be picked up by the dealer. He also said they were not able to add any sort of markup.
Your thoughts on this video?
Odd that the Explorer is not mentioned on the Blue side. Crazy market out there right now and thankfully I bought my Raptor in Sept of 20' and my wife's Expedition early last year before this madness.
@13COBRA , how are you handling long term loyal customers in this market? I was one to my dealer bringing almost 20 sales for family in the last 8yrs and to the same salesman. Last year they treated me like a new customer charging $5k over for an Explorer. They said order one and we will sell it to you at MSRP so we did. Problem was they set the priority level high so it never got picked up over regular inventory...
I thought the same thing with the Explorer, Expedition, etc....BUT it would be a mouthful to list them all haha
We're giving them preferential order status. I would never, ever do that to a customer, let alone one who has generated so many sales for my store over the years.
If I were you, I'd lose my shit and never buy there again. That's just plain wrong.
I always figured the ROI on new sales wasn’t much. Assumed that is why the finance guy is always trying to sell add-ons. My FIL used to do fork lifts for his career (I know we have a lot of drivers in here. Lol). Always said the new sales were negligible.1. Farley, like CEOs of other manufacturers, has always denounced dealers for charging ADMs. It's 99% a publicly cry though, as OEMs can't dictate what dealerships charge for the vehicles, parts, service they provide.
2. When Ford launched the Mach E, Lightning, etc...it's already different than the traditional model.
3. Manufacturers would go out of business fighting the franchise law lawsuits that would come from dismembering the dealer body.
4. I don't think you're familiar with the ROI, net operating profit as a percent of sales, etc of a car dealership. If you were, you'd ask anyone in the business why they don't invest their money elsewhere.
5. There isn't anything sitting on lots, at any mark up at this point. I get calls every day offering to pay $10k+ over MSRP for new vehicles.
6. Go back in time a few years...do you realize that once the vehicle comes off the assembly line, the dealership pays for it? Whether with cash or on a floorplan? It doesn't cost the OEM to have vehicles sitting. If a dealer wants to grossly price himself outside the constraints of the market, why do you care?
EDIT: Example I just received via email. These are dealers buying from other dealers.
Excellent! Now ICE Muscle cars will start going up in value rapidly!