Ford doesnt want dealers to advertise the Mach-E under MSRP

"LJ909" (lj909)
12/05/2019 at 15:36 • Filed to: Ford, Ford Mustang Mach E

I saw this last night. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! is reporting that, per a bulletin that went out to dealers, Ford is going to try and keep dealers from advertising the electric crossover for below MSRP. They explain that they want to “ be competitive in the battery electric vehicle space by transacting in the way customers want to transact .” So Ford understands that customers don’t want to deal with bullshit over the vehicles price. We will see if dealers uphold their end of the bargain by doing what Ford says but I doubt it.

Interest in the Mach E has been high, but Ford has been tight lipped on how many reservations they actually have. Go onto the site and and it will tell you reservations for the First Edition are full. And the only numbers they are willing to talk about are the views from the livestream of the revel. One dealer in Arizona has 47 reservations. Hopefully though dealers don’t ruin this thing by trying to gouge customers. Because they will just go over to Tesla and get the coming Model Y.

DISCUSSION (20)

Ash78, voting early and often > LJ909
12/05/2019 at 16:22

They should be able to sell these at MSRP. But if FoMoCo is restricting them from undercutting the price, they should be similarly punitive if any dealers try to mark them up.

Most of all, I’m excited to finally drive an EV (ANY EV) in Flyover Country that isn’t sitting on a Carmax lot. Because Nissan, Hyundai, and most of all Tesla have really screwed the pooch on mass marketing. Eventually the early adopters run out.

LJ909 > Ash78, voting early and often
12/05/2019 at 16:28

The moment they mark these up, its going to be an even bigger argument for Tesla’s sales method. For those of us that don’ t care for dealers.

I feel like that’ s where a lot of EV’s have been ending up (plus anything that’ s not a Tesla has terrible resale). People either get bored of them or they thought they were something they weren’ t. All the early adopters though either drive Tesla’s or first gen Volts.

Ash78, voting early and often > LJ909
12/05/2019 at 16:31

Nail on the head. Ford absolutely MUST control the dealers here or risk losing big time. They need to emulate Tesla (as much as they can) to really convince people. Because the Tesla sales process is extremely easy. Like, scary even.

Jim Spanfeller > LJ909
12/05/2019 at 16:33

Every time I look at the Mach E, all I can think is that it looks like it has a horseshoe mustache.

LJ909 > Ash78, voting early and often
12/05/2019 at 16:36

Exactly. The sales is going to be the make it or break it for Ford and the Mach E. Its being reported that the Mach E interest and reservations are bringing both new buyers to the brand and new buyers to EV’s. I wouldn’t be surprised if these people are aware of how easy Tesla’s buying program is. And with the Model Y still coming, there is time for these people to experience the buying experience, be turned off by it, and still go over to Tesla and get a Model Y.

LJ909 > Jim Spanfeller
12/05/2019 at 16:37

I didn’t notice that before and now that you mentioned it I cant unsee it now.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > Jim Spanfeller
12/05/2019 at 16:42

Needs a sombrero.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > LJ909
12/05/2019 at 16:51

transacting in the way customers want to transact

[nods]

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Jim Spanfeller
12/05/2019 at 16:53

Can’t unsee. Thanks for that

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul
12/05/2019 at 16:53

speaking of which, where exactly is it being made?

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > LJ909
12/05/2019 at 17:06

“ Ford is going to try and keep dealers from advertising the electric crossover for below MSRP.”

“Hopefully though dealers don’t ruin this thing by trying to gouge customers”

Hmmm... putting these two statements together suggests to me we WILL see dealer stickers with “market value adjustment” fees tacked on to the price... which Ford won’t have a problem with if they’re only concerned about dealers advertising prices * below* MSRP.

And that suggests to me that Ford doesn’t want their new BEV to take away too many unit sales away from their piston-engined CUVs.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
12/05/2019 at 17:12

Cuautitlan

vondon302 > Jim Spanfeller
12/05/2019 at 17:12

Yup nailed it with that comment.

Can' t unsee.

LJ909 > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
12/05/2019 at 18:01

I think they might be concerned about overpricing as well. But like I mentioned before, mark ups on this ting will only hurt it and drive people to go to Tesla (if they know or understand how easy and hassle free their buying experience is.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > LJ909
12/05/2019 at 18:41

“mark ups on this ting will only hurt it”

FYI... Ting... my kids love it...

Kinja'd!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ting_(drink)

Urambo Tauro > LJ909
12/05/2019 at 19:14

They mention that the directive comes via a dealer bulletin, a copy of which I was hoping to find linked somewhere in the article...

Now, I don’t visit Autob log very often, but holy crapstick there are so many links in the article . Is this normal for their site ? I guess the text links are le ss obnoxious than having thumbnails for everything, but it still seems excessive considering that the links are mostly internal tags, and only a few of them are for sources or other info that’s directly relevant tot he article . The first paragraph alone has NI NE links, only two of which lead off-site.

LJ909 > Urambo Tauro
12/05/2019 at 19:46

Yea those links are why I don’t frequent them. You may find one or 2 links pertaining to the article but other than that it’s a bunch of irrelevant crap.

But I dug around a few other sites and couldn’t find the dealer bulletin anywhere.

jimz > Ash78, voting early and often
12/05/2019 at 19:52

Ford CAN’T control the dealers. They simply can’t. Thanks to “good ol’ boy” politics decades ago, dealers have strong legal protections in pretty much every state in this country. It’s incredibly hard to do anything about a bad dealer. basically the only ways are either bankruptcy (which let GM and Chrysler cancel a bunch of franchise contracts) or if there’s proof the dealer has been committing fraud.

the best they usually can do is withhold bonus payouts to dealers, but if the dealer does enough volume they can simply say “screw you, I can’t hear you over all of the cars I’m selling.”

it’s like... my dad worked for a Chrysler-Jeep dealer back up until the BK. When the LX 300 came out, DaimlerChrysler sent out communications begging ( begging! ) dealers not to put those fake convertible tops on them. But that’s all they could do was beg. Dealers said “F that S” and took the $1000 profit on the tops.

Urambo Tauro > LJ909
12/05/2019 at 20:09

And their site already has a built-in tag system similar to Kinja’s “filed to”... there’s really no need to hyperlink random words in the text of the article. It looks really spammy, and makes it harder to locate the ones actually leading to relevant info .

Anyway, I was hoping that the bulletin would provide some context surrounding the quote about “transacting in the way customers want to transact”.

Forrest > Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
12/06/2019 at 00:24

Today I learned that there is pink Ting