Idea that dealers can be replaced is not good

For all the shade that gets thrown to dealers keep in mind that they do the company a service that frankly we are over confident to think we can replicate with online sales. I am in no which way associated with dealers however they are not all bad (don’t apply the sales experience for the overall view of what a dealership does). Look at the Tesla ownership experience, if anything fails on those vehicles (and yes they do fail), the customer experience is a disaster. The vehicle gets hauled off to some far flung service center and the customer is left with nothing. Not even someone to listen to them complain. No one complained about dealers when millions of Firestone tires had to be replaced, or when DPS6 transmission clutches had to be replaced. The idea that dealers can be replaced is laughable, if we made anvils sure, but we make complex vehicles and even with the most robust product development system, mistakes will be made. We have it worse because we do not have a robust product development system. So you really want to ki-l dealerships? Then prepare for the death of the company.

Op @oqg+1lFgpGZZ straight to the point!

Comment! It's anonymous!

10 replies (most recent on top)

I think dealers are beneficial for all the reasons mentioned in this thread. The interesting thing would have been for OEMs to have maintained ownership of the dealer network.

But it can't be both. When it was both - Ford owned some and independents owned some - Henry Ford quickly started taking advantage and giving the independents the short end of the stick.

Tesla does it. So...MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO.

Bill is not a critical thinker. He is a follower. And a pleaser. Whatever his liberal friends want he gives them.

No equity in services? Who fixes all of the 1.5 million +++ Ford recalls? Tesla? LMAO!

Ford dealership experience is garbage. I tried to sponsor several people on "Friends & Family" X-Plan and now they won't buy a Ford vehicle at all. Ford engineers, designs, markets, tests, builds and then relies on chimp dealers who pi-s off our valuable customers. What's the point of even bothering to produce a vehicle at all?

If you don't think Ford Sales and Marketing ring out their own markups on to replace the dealership's then you are d-mb. Ford will not pass savings onto car buyers, they will markup to MSRP and pocket more profit for themselves.

Ford is no longer the gave company it was 6 years ago. Furniture boy and wannabe racecar driver have turned it into a profit first people last organization.

It's not good...it's great! Skip one of their stupid markups or two when making purchases and you can buy yourself a spare vehicle if it ever came to that. You reap what you sow, I hope they take their markups and sleazy sales tactics and choke on them!

@fyb+1lGx9m55 Yes the fantasitc Tesla business model that has delivered, scratched, dinged and damaged vehicles to their customers door steps. Then they fight the customer when they complain. That is a great business model, ignore best practices and argue with the customer.

Any Ford Dealers adding second stickers with huge mark-ups on their new vehicle inventory should be Flipped Off.

@fyb you had me until I read your last sentence.

Although I prefer the Telsa business model when it comes to dealers, at least Ford should keep all subscription and data/software-based services and revenue streams out of the dealers hands. They do not have any equity in these services, and should not. Services will eventually lead our profits with Ford Model e and Ford Pro.

Thread regarding Ford layoffs

Idea that dealers can be replaced is not good

10 replies (most recent on top)

Post a reply