Ford CEO Finally Confirms New "Agency Model"

[TXRangerTim]

And you didn't have to wait weeks for a train.

I'd pay it.

They still had to build it, so yea you still waited.

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[Jhbryaniv]

They still had to build it, so yea you still waited.

Yawn.

Yes.

But I wouldn't have to wait a month for it to go from Michigan to Florida.

I could fly there for a hundred bucks and enjoy a nice road trip home.

 

[Motorpsychology]

Doubt it. The Corvette factory pick up is a special option for their flagship sports car. You can watch your car being made on webcams. Then take delivery and get a special letter and tour the plant and museum.

I don't remember what the program was called, but you could help build the engine with a factory team that oversaw what you were doing; I don't think that it's offered anymore.

 

[puckdodger]

I didn't read all ten pages, y'all do a lot of chattering lol.

I actually like what is being proposed as far as eliminating the scum-sucking sales pigs from the equation, but I gotta wonder: In this attempt at "saving the company" will they do anything to improve the actual product delivered to the customer? These guys have been plagued with several launch issues and if they can't get the cars and trucks going to these agencies right, there will still be a ton of back end cost for Ford to eat through warranty and rework.

 

[AzScorpion]

I didn't read all ten pages, y'all do a lot of chattering lol.

I actually like what is being proposed as far as eliminating the scum-sucking sales pigs from the equation, but I gotta wonder: In this attempt at "saving the company" will they do anything to improve the actual product delivered to the customer? These guys have been plagued with several launch issues and if they can't get the cars and trucks going to these agencies right, there will still be a ton of back end cost for Ford to eat through warranty and rework.

This "agency model" is going on in Europe now and seems to be working. There's links in this post if you want to read through the articles.

 

[TXRangerTim]

I don't remember what the program was called, but you could help build the engine with a factory team that oversaw what you were doing; I don't think that it's offered anymore.

That's definitely not offered anymore. Would be a fun option for the gear heads but a liability suit waiting to happen.

 

[rang19ca]

About the Corvette factory pick up option. An aquaintance who is the local Corvette club president did the factory pick up. He did the museum tour and then went across the street to a dealer to pickup and do the paperwork for the '21 Vette. He then spent a few days driving it home to Ca.

 

[TXRangerTim]

About the Corvette factory pick up option. An aquaintance who is the local Corvette club president did the factory pick up. He did the museum tour and then went across the street to a dealer to pickup and do the paperwork for the '21 Vette. He then spent a few days driving it home to Ca.

He didn't pick up at the museum? When did he pick up there? They have a roped off area and take pictures and present a plague for those that take delivery there. Sounds like he opted for a dealership delivery instead and chose the one close to the plant & museum to make a trip out of it.

 

[rang19ca]

He didn't pick up at the museum? When did he pick up there? They have a roped off area and take pictures and present a plague for those that take delivery there. Sounds like he opted for a dealership delivery instead and chose the one close to the plant & museum to make a trip out of it.

I'm not sure of all the details of why he picked it up across the street. I will ask him the next time I see him.

 

[Jhbryaniv]

I'm not sure of all the details of why he picked it up across the street. I will ask him the next time I see him.

If I had to guess, (without doing any research) it is because he could probably get most of the benefits of a museum pickup without the added cost of a museum pickup by purchasing from the dealer across the street from the museum....

 

[JohnnyO]

The only reason this has become an option is due to the pandemic/supply chain crisis, not Tesla or any of the other direct sales manufacturers. The main issue here is going to be the financial drag this will place on FoMoCo, as they will have to eat the inventory expense, not the dealers. That was the reason for the dealer model- they took on the risk of sitting on all that inventory, and the motor company allowed them pricing flexibility in exchange.

Now, almost all dealers are just used car lots. There's very little new inventory on any lot, industry wide- as such, the prospect of carrying all that inventory has become more palatable for the manufacturer. Ford has wanted this forever.

Farley's biggest challenge now will be to completely revamp the mass production model to meet this new type of demand. People will want a ton of different configurations, and they'll want them instantly- Bronco/Lightning have really shown Ford isn't nearly nimble enough to exist off of a custom order model- this is where Ford is going to fail. Financial conditions change rapidly. What someone can afford now, might not be the case a year down the road. People will cancel orders, then dealers will have some shiny new unattached inventory to gouge people on....

100%
What he wants to do makes a ton of sense but it’s a matter of building cars and trucks and getting them to buyers quickly.
In 2000 my dad ordered a new 7 Series BMW, worst POS he ever owned* but I digress. Order went to Germany, car got built, put on a boat, and was at the dealer in Pittsburgh literally six weeks to the day after he ordered it. I thought that was damned impressive.

* Lesson learned was that BMW’s are great cars as long as they’re on warranty. After it runs out, not so much.

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