Ford Announcement--Will Be Closing Dealerships!

[Jbahoffman]

Big Ford Announcement today--they will be closing smaller dealerships as part of their restructuring plans.Hope this doesn't effect any of us and our Shelby GT 500's!!!!!! :shrug:

1970 Mach 1 428CJ
1993 Cobra
1993 Convertible
1989 Convertible
1985 GT with 427 Stroker
2007 Shelby GT 500 ----Not soon enough!

 

[meaty mac]

not likely to affect the shelby too much. i would imagine the small dealers that will be shut, wouldn't have them anyway

 

[Top_Fuel]

Got a link? I wonder how Ford can close dealers unless they are Ford-owned? :shrug:

 

[crazyhorse06]

That doesn't make much sense. It doesn't cost Ford to have dealerships open. The dealer owns the building and equipment. They pay the employees and benefits. I don't know if Ford owns the parts in the Parts Dept.

So, all they have is stock on the lot. That could be costly, I suppose. The more dealers they have, the more exposure the cars get and more likely to sell.

 

[crazyhorse06]

Got a link? I wonder how Ford can close dealers unless they are Ford-owned? :shrug:

I think they award franchises to dealerships. I suppose they could un-award them and not send them cars/parts anymore.

 

[HISSMAN]

Ford needs to sell more products. Closing, or pulling dealership agreements would do nothing but harm...but consulting firms have done stranger things.

 

[swlacobra]

nothing would surprise me. some bean counter has probably decided the small dealerships are too much trouble. they may also be looking at ones with credit problems. you never know

 

[R1Lello]

Big Ford Announcement today--they will be closing smaller dealerships as part of their restructuring plans.Hope this doesn't effect any of us and our Shelby GT 500's!!!!!! :shrug:

1970 Mach 1 428CJ
1993 Cobra
1993 Convertible
1989 Convertible
1985 GT with 427 Stroker
2007 Shelby GT 500 ----Not soon enough!

:beer:

Doubt small dealers would be SVT cert. anyways so I wouldn't worry.

 

[Jackie Chan]

i havent read this, but there are quite a few stores that need to be shut down for every manfacturer or sold and moved. I have seen Nissan stores selling in the 4-8 car range per month and same with Ford stores. They shouldnt even be open!! Move them or sell them to someone that is going to sell some cars. Which is probably the idea.

edit: these are the stores that are probably having new car sales pumped into their zone from all sides. They wouldnt have any shelby allocation anyway

 

[BittenInBama]

Doubt small dealers would be SVT cert. anyways so I wouldn't worry.

Dealers are not going to be required to be SVT certified to sell the Shelbys according to SVT/SVTOA.

 

[Top_Fuel]

Dealers are not going to be required to be SVT certified to sell the Shelbys...

But does that mean that absolutely no special fees or training will be required for any Ford dealer in the country to get an allocation of GT500s?

If no special training/fees are required...and every Ford store in the country ends up with a few GT500s...that would change the dynamics of the market.

 

[crazyhorse06]

NO, but, they have to be GT500 certified. Read the letter by Daryl Hazel. He explains it in there.

 

[Top_Fuel]

NO, but, they have to be GT500 certified. Read the letter by Daryl Hazel. He explains it in there.

Yeah...that's why I asked for a clarification.

Until someone puts up some hard proof that every dealer will get them, I'll assume that letter to be the last word on the matter.

 

[mrGT]

I would hope, for the sake of all the SVT dealers, that Ford sticks with the intent of Hazel's letter. If they don't, then that would be a very nasty trick to play on those SVT dealers that have stayed certified!

 

[Jbahoffman]

My son is employed at a Ford Dealership. (Yes,we will be getting our Gt 500 at His employee cost). Dealer is waiting to order the shelby for us.
He has been told by Ford that he has to send one of the technicians to a special Shelby Gt 500 certification class. They will be doing this as soon as the information comes through.

 

[Chris!]

They're been trying to close the smaller dealerships for years. Unfortunately, because of publi outcry, it wont happen. Closing dealerships is NOT going to help Fords problems. Its a MAJOR source of revenue, not an expense. However they will be cutting back holdbacks, parts return reserves, and ramming allocation of cars down dealers throats to try to get them out to the market. This is misinformation. It will cost them more moeny to buy these dealerships out of contracts.

 

[Top_Fuel]

...This is misinformation. It will cost them more money to buy these dealerships out of contracts.

Chris...you got any "insider" GT500 allocation info to share yet??? :-D :??: