Ford Loyalty...What A Joke!

[halligan1201]

John, I don't know how you did that but you have my name and JimG_AZ post. lol But I do agree with what you said. ?

The forum has been acting weird when I respond from my phone lately.

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[JimG_AZ]

I'm sure those dealers are ordering those vehicles per market demand. This also goes against what Farley just said July 31st, which was "we don't want large amounts of dealer inventory and look forward to moving to a customer order model and only providing dealers with smaller inventory so we don't have to create incentives to move stock". It can't be both ways. The only leverage large dealers have is profit and since they all pay the same for the vehicle from Ford, the only way Ford makes more from one dealer to the next on a per car basis is through customer financing vehicles through Ford. The higher the sell price, the more that's made on interest.

This will be fascinating to watch happen. I like the concept, but I do not think it will work. I am not sure how the Ford manufacturing plants and the dealers are gong to adapt to this. Unless the orders are coming in at a steady rate, how are they going to handle Just-In-Time parts ordering and delivery? They will have to increase the parts inventory. How are they going to handle staffing at the plant and what is the UAW going to say about it? So if one of the vehicles has a bad month for orders, do they just call the assembly line workers and tell them not to come in? Sorry guys, not enough orders this month... Then on to the dealers. Just about every dealer around Phoenix seems to like to put high markup add-ons on the vehicle. It is difficult to find a new car around here that doesn't have dealer add-ons. Desert protection Package (overpriced wax job), door edge guards, cheap alarm systems, bed liners, window tint, etc. The add-ons model will not work if people are ordering the vehicle on the Ford website. I have a hard time believing that the Ford dealers are willing to give add-ons up. Second, if the customer shows up on the dealers lot, the dealer would have a larger financial incentive to direct the buyer to a used car.

 

[halligan1201]

This will be fascinating to watch happen. I like the concept, but I do not think it will work. I am not sure how the Ford manufacturing plants and the dealers are gong to adapt to this. Unless the orders are coming in at a steady rate, how are they going to handle Just-In-Time parts ordering and delivery? They will have to increase the parts inventory. How are they going to handle staffing at the plant and what is the UAW going to say about it? So if one of the vehicles has a bad month for orders, do they just call the assembly line workers and tell them not to come in? Sorry guys, not enough orders this month... Then on to the dealers. Just about every dealer around Phoenix seems to like to put high markup add-ons on the vehicle. It is difficult to find a new car around here that doesn't have dealer add-ons. Desert protection Package (overpriced wax job), door edge guards, cheap alarm systems, bed liners, window tint, etc. The add-ons model will not work if people are ordering the vehicle on the Ford website. I have a hard time believing that the Ford dealers are willing to give add-ons up. Second, if the customer shows up on the dealers lot, the dealer would have a larger financial incentive to direct the buyer to a used car.

It works for Tesla, Rivian will be doing it, and it's the model the rest of the world outside of NA uses. With Ford's partnership with VW, hopefully they can learn something about just in time manufacturing (Richard Hammond did a good show about it - it's nuts). I'm sure the dealers will adapt - selling and installing accessories themselves, etc. We already see that now, dealerships that specialize in doing performance upgrades, lifts, etc. Franchise agreements and laws with Ford, GM, and whoever owns Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep this week prevent manufacturers from doing away with dealerships altogether but the days when dealerships have hundreds of new cars are the lot are numbered, if not gone already. And having worked at a mega-autogroup for several years, I can say that they love selling used cars over new because more times than not, there's more profit in it. We used new cars to draw them onto the lot and then sold them a certified used if we could.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/everything-must-go-the-american-car-dealership-is-for-sale-11631332812

 

[VAMike]

Just about every dealer around Phoenix seems to like to put high markup add-ons on the vehicle. It is difficult to find a new car around here that doesn't have dealer add-ons. Desert protection Package (overpriced wax job), door edge guards, cheap alarm systems, bed liners, window tint, etc. The add-ons model will not work if people are ordering the vehicle on the Ford website. I have a hard time believing that the Ford dealers are willing to give add-ons up.

Why would anyone actually buy a car there? If they fail because their business model sucks and they try to screw over their customers I won't shed any tears. The real problem is that customers have put up with the ridiculous new car buying process for too long, but I think change is inevitable now that it's easier for people to see that it is possible to buy a car without the bs.

 

[Peragrin]

It works for Tesla, Rivian will be doing it, and it's the model the rest of the world outside of NA uses. With Ford's partnership with VW, hopefully they can learn something about just in time manufacturing (Richard Hammond did a good show about it - it's nuts). I'm sure the dealers will adapt - selling and installing accessories themselves, etc. We already see that now, dealerships that specialize in doing performance upgrades, lifts, etc. Franchise agreements and laws with Ford, GM, and whoever owns Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep this week prevent manufacturers from doing away with dealerships altogether but the days when dealerships have hundreds of new cars are the lot are numbered, if not gone already. And having worked at a mega-autogroup for several years, I can say that they love selling used cars over new because more times than not, there's more profit in it. We used new cars to draw them onto the lot and then sold them a certified used if we could.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/everything-must-go-the-american-car-dealership-is-for-sale-11631332812

out of 6 new cars I have purchased including the 2021 Ranger Only one was ordered per spec.

And that was a 2007 nissan Sentra. (in 2007) Yes Tesla does it. but ordering a new car means you don't need a new car right away you want a new car.

For my wife we had her car fail massively at inspection. (a lot of rusted out body on a 12 year old Rogue) and we literally went out and bought a new car within the next 5 hours.

You can't do that when your only option is to order it.

ordering what you want is quite litterally for those who have time.

 

[VAMike]

out of 6 new cars I have purchased including the 2021 Ranger Only one was ordered per spec.

And that was a 2007 nissan Sentra. (in 2007) Yes Tesla does it. but ordering a new car means you don't need a new car right away you want a new car.

For my wife we had her car fail massively at inspection. (a lot of rusted out body on a 12 year old Rogue) and we literally went out and bought a new car within the next 5 hours.

You can't do that when your only option is to order it.

ordering what you want is quite litterally for those who have time.

Of course it is. But those of us who plan ahead would like to have that option and avoid the shitshow that is the US auto dealership. And regardless, there would still be used car dealerships for the suddenly desperate, right?

 

[Caliope]

So far all the dealerships in my region are all still locally, single owner or family owned, even the "group" dealers. Go in towards Chicago and we hit the corporate dealerships but head west of there until you hit the Mississippi are you will find are dozens of privately owned Ford dealerships. It all depends on the market.

Yes the majority in my area of IL (Quad Cities) on the Mississippi are locally owned. One was recently purchased by a regional multi-dealership group. This group was the first to add ADMs to the Bronco Sport. It is one of the 5 that are in a ten mile radius. Now a couple others are following suit, adding ADMs to other Ford lines as well. In fact one had an 10k ADM on the only new vehicle on their lot, an F150 Raptor.

I got disgusted with the "local" dealers 23 yrs ago and deal with the dealership in farm town 22 miles east of me, because of the great customer service before, during and after the sale.

On the same token, things look similar as far as allocations of new vehicles go on the Chevy side in this area. One is advertising they have a bunch of new Silverados, while the other one doesn't have any.

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