Thread regarding Ford layoffs

Correction to prior post. The SDR is run by Ford, but staffed by Percepta. Ford has approximately a dozen managers assigned to manage the business overseeing about 1,700 dealers. Percepta is a jo--t venture 50% owned by Ford and provides the zone managers.

SDR = Select Dealer Region. It is a "region" run by Percepta (a vendor) in a call center in Melborne, FL. The SDR zone mgrs call rural or low volume dealers to conduct monthly wholesale mtgs, among other responsibilities.

Retired in 2020 and still keep in touch with the dealer principals and general managers at my local dealerships. They all say there is little value in the visits from the sales and marketing reps. There really is no longer a need for sales and service zone managers, or even the regional managers. With customer orders accounting for a growing percentage of retail sales, gone are the days of forcing inventory on the dealers. The parts and service zone managers used to have a checkbook to help service departments deal with heat cases. No more. The select dealer region SDR could easily go away without an issue. All these positions are at risk of major cuts. In fact, some of the more skilled zone managers have been transferred to new roles prior to the anticipated cuts.

What is SDR?

Where do you take your recalled Ford if there are no dealerships?

No need for the SDR to look after small rural dealers if you are going to a direct-to- consumer sales model. Elimination of small dealers will be an inevitable next step as Ford continues downward spiral. Those rural dealers have 20% market share compared to big city dealers with about 10%.

I heard SDR goes away too..

Changes/layoffs announced next week. SDR will be rolled into Regions. What Regions look like who knows.