Ford wants to move to online-only sales for EVs

[Wretched]

Few Americans enjoyed the car-buying process even before supply chain chaos, and the chip shortage led dealerships to mark up inventory by thousands of dollars. But buying a Ford electric vehicle might be a lot less painful in the future, if Ford CEO Jim Farley gets his way. On Wednesday, Farley said that he wants the company's EVs to be sold online-only, with no dealer markups or other price negotiations, according to the Detroit Free Press.

"We've got to go to non-negotiated price. We've got to go to 100 percent online. There's no inventory (at dealerships), it goes directly to the customer. And 100 percent remote pickup and delivery," Farley said while speaking at a conference in New York.

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/06...ys-ceo-farley/

[Franco Cozzo]

Oh gee, sounds like what I've been posting on AFF for a while now, wonder if the nay-sayers will suddenly change their tune now that the CEO of Ford is thinking along the same lines for their new product range

[Polyal]

As long as there is a facility to test drive then sure why not.

[simon varley]

who's going to upsell the window tinting and paint protection?

[jpd80]

Fat chance of Ford EVs getting to Australia, they can barely supply enough ICE vehicles…

[b0son]

Originally Posted by simon varley

who's going to upsell the window tinting and paint protection?

http://www.mingmoll.com

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by b0son

http://www.mingmoll.com

Was that meant to have an 'au' on the end, otherwise it comes up .... This site can’t be reached

[kypez]

Can't happen soon enough. Be carnage with dealers between now and then though with them looking to make enough money before the transition.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

[PooDog]

So who's going to show nana how all the tits and knobs work ?.....and who's going to show the muppets (that couldnt drive their finger up their a#s) how to drive it .....geez its bad enough on the road now

[Gumboot]

Sooner the better. Just look at the greedy dealers with stupid $3000-$5000 deliver charges and price gouging.
Tesla have made that model work. Honda not so much and Mercedes’ are on a learning curve.
The manufacturers should also put up videos on you tube and socials , a series of “get to know your new car” and “how to use and configure”. Etc

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Gumboot

Sooner the better. Just look at the greedy dealers with stupid $3000-$5000 deliver charges and price gouging.
Tesla have made that model work. Honda not so much and Mercedes’ are on a learning curve.
The manufacturers should also put up videos on you tube and socials , a series of “get to know your new car” and “how to use and configure”. Etc

While dealer markups are disgusting, I can imagine the alternative of more than a few early Lightning buyers purchasing their vehicle at retail and flipping it for tens of thousands more…

Hard to know how to stop people being scalped on desirable purchases when dealers are protected by US state laws.

I know that Tesla got around US laws by claiming that their vehicles required special instructions
to buyers that dealerships would not adequately provide. Yeah, that's like BS but the got away with it
so now I’m thinking that Ford sees this as a way of moving away from the “dealership experience”.

We need a list of good guy dealerships that don’t overcharge, Paul Klease at Bremer Ford is one.

[Gumboot]

I agree, there will always be some , but mostly that's because of the supply chain issues right now. If we get more inventory into the system and shorter waits, we will see less of this as there will be more stock and competition . People will vote with their feet. I already see people using the online forums and social media now to shop around for prices on cars, just like they are using fuel apps to find the cheapest fuel.


Another manufacturer that has an online model is the new Ineos Grenadier. They have dealerships for Servicing and Test drives. But you buy online.

[jpd80]

Ford is already walking back Farley’s statement of full online sales model to online digital contracts
as a way of locking in a fixed price and stopping dealer markups being added before delivery.
If Ford can do this, it could stop a lot of the shenanigans going on with prices.

[M&Ms]

Having dealt with three horrible Ford Dealers in Sydney when new car shopping, I say good riddance. They seem to not know how to treat a potential customer

[John 13]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Fat chance of Ford EVs getting to Australia, they can barely supply enough ICE vehicles…

Yes and particularly when a few overseas manufacturers have already got a foot into our relatively small right hand drive market.

[XP6]

Originally Posted by John 13

Yes and particularly when a few overseas manufacturers have already got a foot into our relatively small right hand drive market.

Yep we're in China's sights... don't think their going to be cheap either

[jpd80]

In a two car family, at least one of them could be an electric vehicle for daily commuting, especially longer ones.
Close to 20 million people live within 160 km of the East coast of Australia, that’s perfect for building EV numbers.

[mad2]

ford-sticking-with-plans-to-have-non-negotiable-ev-prices-online

[Dr Smith]

A couple of previsions:

As long as FoMoCo doesn't jack up prices in increments beforehand the way Honda and Mercedes has done before switching to an agency model and dealers don't do stupid markups from the official list price online buying should be a much more enjoyable process.
There will still need to be negotiations on trade-in valuations however.

From experience, you pick a dealer you like because they know you are a serious buyer and there is no combative "I'm not going to let you rip-me-off" or "you'll take my best price and screw the other dealer lower" sentiment around the whole process. The buyer knows the price before leaving home and the dealer also knows that.

The dealer has to convince you to choose their site over the other 2 or 3 in nearby suburbs/towns and maybe Ford (the company) and their dealer network can focus on improving our post-sale dealer servicing experience instead.

I had to take my MB van for it's first service booking and also have a side mirror replaced making a claim against the other drivers insurance company. Bear in mind I was at my local dealer and not the original selling dealer as they are an hour away, out of courtesy I even told them I just cannot spare the 2 hour round trip and would also either need to wait or get a loan vehicle. The local MB dealer took over my insurance claim, has the parts on order, is repairing at the same time as my 12 month service, driving me to work and collecting me later on the day and yes I'll need a credit card limit increase to pay for the service.

At the local MB dealership my treatment was eye-opening compared to any other dealer experience I've faced in my near 40 years of driving. To see the setup in the service bays, the shear number of staff moving around, six service staff at their owns desks, the full-time barista in the cafe lounge, the whole "vibe" of the place...yes I know it's a luxury brand and so money isn't an issue due to their profit level (which must have gone up with fixed price switch) over say a Ford dealer but it's the post-sales experience that Ford needs to work on. I've never had trouble with my own Ford dealership and in fact they have made some warranty claims while technically outside the 5 year period and had them approved so I'll stay loyal as I've been coming back for those near on 40 years plus my family.

Fixed price/online means the dealer isn't winning the business based only on price....other factors can now come into play and the smarter dealers will move on this before it's too late.

[jpd80]

Ford want all the glory of online sales contracts and none of the responsibility of answering “where the hell is my car?”
In a nutshell, this is a huge online argument in America where dealers are the meat in the sandwich with online orders
that Ford can’t get right or reschedules car builds without notification or doesn’t bother arranging transport or
the vehicles are locked in at holding yards, dozens of issues that the dealer somehow becomes responsible for
yet shouldn’t get paid for helping the buyers that Ford wants to deal directly with……

[Dr Smith]

@jpd80...well in that case a road to ruin...sometimes you just have to fix a problem regardless of the cost because any half-smart cost accountant can tell you the financial trouble now but none consider the cost of lost sales in future from buyers never to return.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Dr Smith

@jpd80...well in that case a road to ruin...sometimes you just have to fix a problem regardless of the cost because any half-smart cost accountant can tell you the financial trouble now but none consider the cost of lost sales in future from buyers never to return.

Many US dealers are taking advantage of the current situation to jack up prices on buyers after an order has been placed and in most people’s estimation, that’s BS thing to do. It’s a deliberate ploy from dealers to either get an increased price on the sale or another buyer who will pay it. Thats also because Ford is restricting dealers to “Monique” vehicles for customer service days and demonstrators that can’t be sold inside six months.