Ford Dealers Told To Prepare For A Brutal Future

[Offshoregames]

https://www.newsbreakapp.com/n/0g0eUfiH?pd=07RIV2EE&lang=en_US&s=i16

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[Houston Kid]

Maybe if they had not gotten greedy over the last 2-3 years it would be a different story. If Ford can cut out the middle man and the markup lost there, why not?

 

[15GTPPinCO]

Yeah, I agree that they are absolutely screwed. Dealerships make (made?) tons of money. Look at hundred millionaire's investments. Dealerships. Around here, it's John Elway. I do feel some of the pain for the good salesman. I have a distant cousin who has made his career on selling Fords for a reasonable price, and helping his buyers out when they needed it. I blew up a Focus, back in the day, 1k miles out of warranty and he took care of me. I have wanted to drive cars that I couldn't afford at the time, and he helped me out (cobras in the late 1990s).

I walked into a local dealer about four years ago, and the 60+ year old salesman refused to give me any pricing, and basically kicked me out after I asked for A/Z plan (I come from a Ford family in Detroit). I told them I would never buy from them, and I have so far been true to that promise. It was Mike Maroone Ford, in Colorado, for anyone who was curious. I don't even want to take my warranty/recall work to their service department. I should probably get the "doors may open while driving" recall looked at though.

Justin

 

[LOL WUT]

It works for Tesla. Can’t believe it’s taken others so long to follow suit in some form.

 

[Dave2013M3]

This is mainly for Ford Electrics. However, most of the world operates the same way. Very limited inventory and most are customer ordered. You have to have dealers for service and also used cars. Most new car dealers don't have much inventory and the inventory they have is used.

 

[m3incorp]

When I was looking to buy my Corvette Z06, that dealership Maroone Cheveloret is what made me order a brand new one from the second top-selling dealership on the East Coast and save $10K. I think they had another name back then.

I walked into a local dealer about four years ago, and the 60+ year old salesman refused to give me any pricing, and basically kicked me out after I asked for A/Z plan (I come from a Ford family in Detroit). I told them I would never buy from them, and I have so far been true to that promise. It was Mike Maroone Ford, in Colorado, for anyone who was curious. I don't even want to take my warranty/recall work to their service department. I should probably get the "doors may open while driving" recall looked at though.

Justin

 

[BabyDoc1012]

The dealers are going to fight this tooth and nail. Look at how they fought Tesla. Unfortunately, the reason we still have dealerships in most states is because of legislation. I’ve never understood, why the dealership wasn’t own by the manufacturer from the invention of cars. With as control crazy as Henry Ford was, I am completely surprised he did not set it up as him owning the dealerships. Imagine how much more money he could have made. But I think because of the Rona and chip shortage shutdowns that have depleted inventory and the amount of customer orders the manufacturers realize that there is an easier, more profitable way to sell cars. Salesman will still keep their jobs because they will be needed to sell the used cars. Most of the money in a dealership comes from used car sales and service. And if Ford allows for an order to be completely placed online without a dealer, than the consumer gets direct pricing and we don’t have to worry about ADM. just my two sense.

 

[Weyland-Yutani]

The dealers are going to fight this tooth and nail. Look at how they fought Tesla. Unfortunately, the reason we still have dealerships in most states is because of legislation.

Legislation driven by auto dealer lobbies, yes. It isn't an organic market. If it was, it wouldn't be such a lousy experience for most people.

 

[Bikeman315]

It works for Tesla. Can’t believe it’s taken others so long to follow suit in some form.

Pretty much works the same way with Volvo. My dealer told me that although they do keep some stock on hand most customers prefer to order. We did and are happy about it.

 

[67go]

I get that dealers are nasty. I was fortunate to have one of the last family owned Ford dealers in upstate New York still selling cars with a discount and no hassles. Most of the dealers now are all the same huge conglomerates in the area controlling everything and the don't gave flying *&^(. Didn't care if I bought the Mustang and didn't even call or email after sitting waiting 45 minutes for them to appraise a C6 that I was trading in. 15 salesman walking around in circles!!! LOL. Worst dealer I have ever been in. Anyways, I don't understand how these dealers will maintain a quality service that is honest and fair when they go trough this change.

 

[ay1820]

This is the way of the future. The demographic that is comfortable with the dealer model, kicking the tires and haggling price is rapidly becoming a vanishingly small part of the landscape. The demographic that expects to have every bit of information, including the exact configuration of the vehicle, the exact price they will pay, and when it will be delivered to them all available on their phone, without ever talking to a human is on the rise.

They don't want to be "sold" a car, they want to "buy" what they want, when they want it and how the want it. The internet sales model is giving them that power. I have seen this behavior in my own (adult) children not just with auto purchases, but really any kind of purchase. The market will demand this and the manufacturers who read what the consumer wants and adapt the fastest will win out.

Dealers will morph into service centers and will still make tons of money. And of course, there will still be a thriving used car market not only for dealerships, but used car lots as well. I do see CarMax and Carvana redefining that market to more of a "buying" transaction though too. Again, that is what the market wants.

I am far more disturbed by the trend of manufacturers moving towards a subscription model for features and options in your vehicle. You need to pay a monthly fee for all the wiz-bang electronically controlled options like voice navigation or parking assist sensors or they become disabled. The absolutely last thing I want is another set of hands picking my pocket every month!

 

[Houston Kid]

I get that dealers are nasty. I was fortunate to have one of the last family owned Ford dealers in upstate New York still selling cars with a discount and no hassles. Most of the dealers now are all the same huge conglomerates in the area controlling everything and the don't gave flying *&^(. Didn't care if I bought the Mustang and didn't even call or email after sitting waiting 45 minutes for them to appraise a C6 that I was trading in. 15 salesman walking around in circles!!! LOL. Worst dealer I have ever been in. Anyways, I don't understand how these dealers will maintain a quality service that is honest and fair when they go trough this change.

The small town family owned dealership where I buy my Fords is a don't believe in ADM dealership. I have bought 3 Shelby's from them since 2017 including my 2022 HE CFTP. All MSRP. I have sent friends there one of which is waiting for his Bronco R at MSRP to come through. There are a few still around.

 

[YankeeVol]

The small town family owned dealership where I buy my Fords is a don't believe in ADM dealership. I have bought 3 Shelby's from them since 2017 including my 2022 HE CFTP. All MSRP. I have sent friends there one of which is waiting for his Bronco R at MSRP to come through. There are a few still around.

The Chevy/Cadillac store I work at doesn’t charge over MSRP for anything (Corvette, Escalade, Blackwing, Tahoe, etc).

I wouldn’t work at a store that does.

 

[MCS]

I'm about to go all Gloom and Doom on ya'll, so strap in and get a helmet!

Sadly, what many of you have expressed is true. "The way of the future" is coming. The more "streamlined" and "efficient" we get the less work there is to do for actual people. There won't be any sort of Utopian Star Trek future.

The funny part is there are people who make ridiculous salaries for what they tout as "critical decision making with extremely high responsibility and accountabilities". They basically pick what software to buy in order to run processes and generate more revenue for the business. They sit around a table and throw words around like "revenue unlock", "process improvement" "AGILE", "ITIL" and "Digital Transformation" then smile at each other about how good they sound.

I was once in a bathroom stall doing my business when the CEO and the COO walked in to do their business, chatting along the way. The comment was "REDACTED grows through acquisition so what I like to do is buy the book of business, terminate middle management and keep the workers to generate revenue". This was in a company related to health care. Which is supposed to be all about feels and providing amazing services etc. etc.

Companies will save HUGE amounts of money because they won't have the parasitic costs associated with brick and mortor or flesh and blood that they did 10 years ago. Salary? Nope. Sick Day Benefits? Nope. Termination / Severance Packages? Nope. Medical, Dental, Retirement benefits? Nope. The software doesn't need any of this. Once it's purchased, it's owned. Even on a subscription model (which everyone does these days), it's still less than an employee with an office. Don't even get me started about the actual real estate space! Do we need that office space? Nope. Software lives in the cloud.

Keep the low-income people working in the factories to build stuff, train the monkeys to repair stuff and The Machine keeps running. It also allows the elite to continue on with their current quality of life, or better since they won't have to have we, the peasants, to deal with. It goes from a 3 tiered system (low, middle and upper "class") to a 2 tier system (those who have, and those who do not but serve/work for those that do).

In another 20 years things like RPA (Robotic Process Automation), BI (Business Intelligence) "The Cloud" (AWS, Google, Azure etc) or, in the world I'm familiar with, Azure AI, will take over most of the processes, thinking and development of modern-day businesses. You will have a few suits pushing buttons and taking catered lunches to decide who gets to use fancy words that day.

 

[ay1820]

I'm about to go all Gloom and Doom on ya'll, so strap in and get a helmet!

Sadly, what many of you have expressed is true. "The way of the future" is coming. The more "streamlined" and "efficient" we get the less work there is to do for actual people. There won't be any sort of Utopian Star Trek future.

The funny part is there are people who make ridiculous salaries for what they tout as "critical decision making with extremely high responsibility and accountabilities". They basically pick what software to buy in order to run processes and generate more revenue for the business. They sit around a table and throw words around like "revenue unlock", "process improvement" "AGILE", "ITIL" and "Digital Transformation" then smile at each other about how good they sound.

I was once in a bathroom stall doing my business when the CEO and the COO walked in to do their business, chatting along the way. The comment was "REDACTED grows through acquisition so what I like to do is buy the book of business, terminate middle management and keep the workers to generate revenue". This was in a company related to health care. Which is supposed to be all about feels and providing amazing services etc. etc.

Companies will save HUGE amounts of money because they won't have the parasitic costs associated with brick and mortor or flesh and blood that they did 10 years ago. Salary? Nope. Sick Day Benefits? Nope. Termination / Severance Packages? Nope. Medical, Dental, Retirement benefits? Nope. The software doesn't need any of this. Once it's purchased, it's owned. Even on a subscription model (which everyone does these days), it's still less than an employee with an office. Don't even get me started about the actual real estate space! Do we need that office space? Nope. Software lives in the cloud.

Keep the low-income people working in the factories to build stuff, train the monkeys to repair stuff and The Machine keeps running. It also allows the elite to continue on with their current quality of life, or better since they won't have to have we, the peasants, to deal with. It goes from a 3 tiered system (low, middle and upper "class") to a 2 tier system (those who have, and those who do not but serve/work for those that do).

In another 20 years things like RPA (Robotic Process Automation), BI (Business Intelligence) "The Cloud" (AWS, Google, Azure etc) or, in the world I'm familiar with, Azure AI, will take over most of the processes, thinking and development of modern-day businesses. You will have a few suits pushing buttons and taking catered lunches to decide who gets to use fancy words that day.

Well I work in a different industry, but all the buzzwords are the same. I am "semi-retired" right now, but was fortunate enough to land in an upper middle management role, so I was able to pay the bills, put my kids through college, and still have enough left over to afford the kind of car we like to talk about on boards like this, so I can't complain too loudly.

I agree with everything you are saying, but the truth is, there is nothing new about any of this. Throughout history, there has always been a small upper class elite and larger group of those doing all the work, and the upper class has always looked for ways to squeeze all the profit they can out of the laborers.

We used to call them Nobles or Aristocrats who had serfs to do their bidding, then we called them Robber Barons who capitalized on the industrial revolution and drove laborers into sweatshop factories, today we call them CEOs and Hedge Fund Managers who are automating everything they can and driving more and more people into low value unskilled service industry jobs. The truth is, except for the few decades immediately after the second world war, the world has never had a significant true "middle class" population.

So the names are changing and the means of squeezing profit keep getting more sophisticated, but the game is still the same.

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