"LJ909" (lj909)
12/11/2019 at 16:29 • Filed to: Ford Mustang Mach-E, Dealership Experience.
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"LJ909" (lj909)
12/11/2019 at 16:29 • Filed to: Ford Mustang Mach-E, Dealership Experience. | 1
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We all know dealers one and only goal is to make as much money as possible off a customer. Sales people don’t care about the product. They care about their pockets. And with Ford hoping to dive into the EV game with the Mach-E, they are going to have to do something about their dealers. Its easy as hell to buy a Tesla to the point that now you don’t even have to deal with anyone. But its looking like Ford dealers are already pretty much saying they aren’t interested in selling the Mach-E.
One of the contributors over at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! decided to test the waters and call around to what amounted to 15 different Ford dealers. And what he got was sad considering the Mach -E JUST debuted, and not surprising. He said he was met with nothing but lies and outright dumb sales tactics, even being told by one dealer that the Mach-E cant be charged at home: “ The calls were met with what would be best described as an abundance of confusion and fear. Those who attempted to help, albeit tried their best, shared nothing of merit. Google seemed to be the go-to resource for answers to basic questions like “how do you charge an electric car?”
“ Absolutely nothing but misinformation was sold to me. You can’t charge a Mustang Mach E at home, they can use Tesla Superchargers, it doesn’t have enough range, a plug-in hybrid is better, ect ect. Nothing of importance because it’s all, simply put, wrong. According to one dealership, a Tesla is better than the Mach E but because Tesla’s start at $100,000, the Mach E is a better buy. ”
That is absolutely insane. But again, not surprising at all. From my experience, basic product knowledge is usually terrible all around at most dealerships. Even when I sold and we’d have product guys come down from corporate, you could ` almost
feel
the disinterest while the guy was talking. This all shows though that the success or failure of the Mach-E will boil down to the dealer experience. Many of these people are a new type of buyer and don’t want to deal with the bull that is going to come from going to a regular dealership. And sadly I don’t have much hope for them to succeed on this front.
Maxima Speed
> LJ909
12/11/2019 at 17:14 |
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I despise “stealerships”.
Future next gen S2000 owner
> LJ909
12/11/2019 at 17:24 |
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Ironically, selling cars has very little to do with actual car knowledge.
WiscoProud
> LJ909
12/11/2019 at 17:25 |
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Thats too bad, but not surprising. They need to have at least one person trained in the EV, then forward all questions to them.
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LJ909
> Future next gen S2000 owner
12/11/2019 at 17:26 |
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True. But it helps to know what you’re selling. But if you’re a good enough sales person you can bullshit your way through everything and still make a sale sadly. So if you told that Kia Rio buyer they had turbo and a Sport+ mode, its all gravy once they find out they don’ t at home because your hands are washed of them.
DipodomysDeserti
> LJ909
12/11/2019 at 17:28 |
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I would think most buyers interested in the Mach E would just do the research themselves instead of calling dealerships. Unless this thing is surprisingly popular with boomers.
Even my grandmother just Googles what she wants to know rather than calling and asking someone.
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LJ909
> WiscoProud
12/11/2019 at 17:29 |
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I would say something along the lines of a BMW Genius type of person.
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DipodomysDeserti
> Future next gen S2000 owner
12/11/2019 at 17:32 |
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And no good salesperson is going to waste time playing twenty questions with someone on the phone.
Michael Cohen
> LJ909
12/11/2019 at 17:42 |
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The dealer network is going to be a huge problem. My brother and sister-in-law had a bad experience at a Ford dealer. He said it felt like walking into a Sears with lame elevator music and a shoddy space that hadn’t been updated in years. (The cars didn’t impress them either.) This was in Highland Park, IL, a wealthy area and they’re trying to sell $70k Lincolns. Compared to the local Lexus, Mercedes, and Tesla dealers it’ s a joke. These Mustangs are not going to be bought by Jalops. Normies are going to insist on a nice dealership with a luxurious waiting area and service like a five star hotel, which they get at Lexus. Ford has a long way to go.
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LJ909
> Michael Cohen
12/11/2019 at 17:53 |
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Right. What you described is going to kill it for them. Tesla and their owners (and fanboys) may be annoying, but one thing that they have helped to bring about is change to how cars are sold and the dealership experience. They are going to have to upgrade quick or do something. But anyway they go about it it doesn’ t seem like it would work.
On one hand they could go the Tesla route and streamline the sales process. But this is going to be met with backlash but their franchises . On the other they could upgrade the dealers and experience , but it’s going to get even more backlash because the dealers and sales people are going to want to know why they have to do all this for a single model? Whatever happens its going to be an interesting next 2 years for the Mach-E and dealers that for sure.
WilliamsSW
> LJ909
12/11/2019 at 18:00 |
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And Cadillac executives just sadly nod their heads...
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Michael Cohen
> LJ909
12/11/2019 at 18:01 |
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I’m sure management is aware of the problem. I don’t know what they can do. There was an Infiniti dealer near me and it seemed like every 7 years they remodeled the place because it was mandated by the franchisor. Ford’s relationship with its dealers runs back decades longer. I don’t know what power they have to make them re model or what kind of training they can mandate. Ford is probably looking at EVs like do or die. The sales people at the dealerships think EV is an extreme niche product which it is for now and probably aren’t bothered to care.
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WilliamsSW
> Michael Cohen
12/11/2019 at 18:03 |
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I’ve shopped a fair amount at both luxury car dealers and regular car dealers and the difference is stark. There are exceptions (Cadillac dealers are closer to Ford than Lexus), but I generally want to take a shower after leaving a regular brand dealer thanks to the slimy sales people. Japanese brands seem to be worse than American brands even.
i86hotdogs
> LJ909
12/11/2019 at 18:19 |
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Kinda like how they treated the Focus RS like gold? 10-15k mark ups, vehicles roped off and locked, serious customers denied test drives. Unless you have trained or special staff to exclusively sell and answer quetions about those models, a ny vehicle that is not a standard truck or SUV will be chaotic to sell from any dealer. If I recall, you have to take classes to be authorized to sell Corvette’s.
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LJ909
> i86hotdogs
12/11/2019 at 18:33 |
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Exactly. Requiring credit checks BEFORE test drives. Also sales people actively trying to get customers onto other vehicles that they know they can sell them on/have bigger commissions. All you have to do is look to the recent past to see how they suck. They need specific training for these vehicles to be able to be sold . But something tells me they wont do it.
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i86hotdogs
> LJ909
12/11/2019 at 18:58 |
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They did something for the GT. I know for sure Ford selected dealers and provided them tools and equipment to properly service them, and trained or hired people to work on them. So maybe they do have a small bit of brain to at least send something out to help teh dealers sell these.
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LJ909
> i86hotdogs
12/11/2019 at 19:17 |
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Yea I think you’re right. I think they should go about it by only allowing select dealers to sell the Mach-E. The same way they did it for Ford and the same way Nissan did it with the GT-R. This isn’ t to say its performance model and doing this might limit the market for the Mach-E in some areas , but it could be easier to do the necessary product knowledge and sales training needed to get people into this thing.
SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media
> LJ909
12/11/2019 at 20:50 |
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The dealer/distributor relationship is very different in Australia. In many ways, every dealer is a franchise of the distributor and, in a few instances, is actually a company store.
Subaru Oz have gone down the path of online sales for all their cars. You are then directed to the nearest dealer for delivery.
HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
> LJ909
12/11/2019 at 21:09 |
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My car experience working at a dealership is that even management only cars about the cars on there lot, and selling them.
They don’t want to order you a car. They don’t want to inform you about a car they don’t have. They have a monopoly on cars, so you have to buy one they have.
Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
> LJ909
12/11/2019 at 23:14 |
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The only time I've been kidnapped it was by a salesman at a Ford dealer so... Yeah....