rperez817 Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 19 minutes ago, jpd80 said: Ford telematics and software not so much… Those are 2 of the major growth opportunties for Ford Pro division. The division has also made a foray into additional subscription-based services as well as commercial vehicle insurance. Here is a slide from Ford's Capital Markets Day 2023 event. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 (edited) 23 minutes ago, rperez817 said: Those are 2 of the major growth opportunties for Ford Pro division. The division has also made a foray into additional subscription-based services as well as commercial vehicle insurance. Here is a slide from Ford's Capital Markets Day 2023 event. But those two are not converting into sales, established players already have this sewn up, you need to separate marketing hype from reality…they use “opportunities “ because there are no sales. Edited November 10, 2023 by jpd80 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GearheadGrrrl Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 Sounds overly optimistic- There's literally dozens of companies offering fleet management connectivity and software, and most of them work on all brands rather than just Ford. If I were running a fleet I'd be suspicious and just look at this product as another way for Ford to suck my vehicles in to their dealerships for more overpriced and often unneeded repairs! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 (edited) 18 minutes ago, jpd80 said: But those two are not converting into sales, established players already have this sewn up, you need to separate marketing hype from reality…they use “opportunities “ because there are no sales. they are peripherals...a majority people dont buy certain brands or products based on basic after the fact items...Ford has been pushing their Telematics down our throats as well...now if you have a Fleet already it could make sense, and thankfully Ford just gives us a phone number to pass on...I veiw it almost as their "side business"...I will say, product dependent that it may ultimately promote product loyalty but its aimed more to Fleet companies, something Ford has pretty much turned their back on lately...so sucess remains to be seen...its model kinda of parallels how Enterprize, ARI, Wheels etc cater to their clients... Edited November 10, 2023 by Deanh 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 9 minutes ago, Deanh said: they are peripherals...a majority people dont buy certain brands or products based on basic after the fact items...Ford has been pushing their Telematics down our throats as well...now if you have a Fleet already it could make sense, and thankfully Ford just gives us a phone number to pass on...I veiw it almost as their "side business"...I will say, product dependent that it may ultimately promote product loyalty but its aimed more to Fleet companies, something Ford has pretty much turned their back on lately...so sucess remains to be seen... Dean, you’re so polite, peripherals are the wart on an ass that no one wants to look at, you give new owners the number to follow up and it goes into the trash on the way out of your office. And rest assured, a guy like Doug Field is not captain follow up with customers… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 7 minutes ago, jpd80 said: Dean, you’re so polite, peripherals are the wart on an ass that no one wants to look at, you give new owners the number to follow up and it goes into the trash on the way out of your office. And rest assured, a guy like Doug Field is not captain follow up with customers… Ford has been ramming "bright ideas that amount to nothing" down our throats for decades....lol...very, VERY few of them amount to anything other than making more work for everyone with no reward other than some "expert" in Corporate getting an employee of the month award...LMAO. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 (edited) 17 minutes ago, Deanh said: Ford has been ramming "bright ideas that amount to nothing" down our throats for decades....lol...very, VERY few of them amount to anything other than making more work for everyone with no reward other than some "expert" in Corporate getting an employee of the month award...LMAO. Also, this monthly subscription idea for unlocking already installed features is a bad idea, buyers feel like they’re being nickeled and dimed over every last thing but try telling that to Doug Field or Jim Farley - they have no customer awareness, stuck in their silos. Edited November 10, 2023 by jpd80 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 12 minutes ago, jpd80 said: Also, this monthly subscription idea for unlocking already installed features is a bad idea, buyers feel like they’re being nickeled and dimed over every last thing but try telling that to Doug Field or Jim Farley - they have no customer awareness, stuck in their silos. BMW tried the "subscription" with heated seats being one feature...how asinine is that???????????? So, its not just Field and Farley and Ford....now if it was some sort of conscierge service with getting priority when the cars in for service with maybe a discount on regular service charges or something that makes customers feel special...then maybe youre on to something...I tried to get our dealership to have something similar for people that literally bought here, not somehwere else, they werent sure that was legal???? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 There’s nothing like an economic slowdown to refocus corporate mindset on what’s really important. All they really care about is money and if anything gets in the way of those profits, it has to be questioned. 9 minutes ago, Deanh said: BMW tried the "subscription" with heated seats being one feature...how asinine is that???????????? So, its not just Field and Farley and Ford....now if it was some sort of conscierge service with getting priority when the cars in for service with maybe a discount on regular service charges or something that makes customers feel special...then maybe youre on to something...I tried to get our dealership to have something similar for people that literally bought here, not somehwere else, they werent sure that was legal???? You have to really ask what has happened to the buyer experience, the joy of buying a new vehicle and the guile used by sales staff to upsell more vehicle than required, even higher nicer trim levels. Sure you still have people marching the most vehicle they can get to a monthly payment but now, those higher interest rates are biting, so things like subscriptions addd to monthly payments are now way more apparent to cost of ownership….I don’t know that many can afford new vehicles unless the prices come down….or Ford starts subverting costs for a couple of years…. Over 14,300 Mach Es unsold at dealerships kinda blows a big hole in Ford’s plan for dealers to spend big on million dollar upgrades……that should be put on hold for now, at least until dealers can clear the backlog of unwanted vehicles… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GearheadGrrrl Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 To put that million dollar EV upgrade in perspective, the dealer I bought my last Ford from has an assessed property value of only a million and a half, and they signed up for the EV upgrade. Ford better give these dealers some support or EVs are gonna drive them outa business! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rperez817 Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 29 minutes ago, Deanh said: BMW tried the "subscription" with heated seats being one feature...how asinine is that???????????? It's not asinine, but BMW didn't do a good job marketing subscription based payment plans for heated seats and ultimately discontinued them, leaving only the fixed one time price for that feature. Jim Farley isn't a fan of BMW's previous heated seat subscription model anyway. He wants Ford to focus on high value, customized subscription offerings for both fleet and retail customers. Ford CEO Jim Farley Dings BMW Over Heated Seat Subscription Model (fordauthority.com) When asked about BMW’s heated seat subscription at the launch of the Ford F-150 Lightning and E-Transit at Sonoma Country Winegrowers yesterday, Farley said that he’d “be surprised if we charged for heated seats,” saying “I don’t think that’s our approach. There will be kind of customized software that you can pick and choose off a menu that would make sense for our commercial customers and retail customers. Maybe dynamic routing or coaching for the driver. I think there’ll be a subscription like we’re used to in content, but it will be customized based on the usefulness of the data.” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 7 minutes ago, rperez817 said: It's not asinine, but BMW didn't do a good job marketing subscription based payment plans for heated seats and ultimately discontinued them, leaving only the fixed one time price for that feature. Jim Farley isn't a fan of BMW's previous heated seat subscription model anyway. He wants Ford to focus on high value, customized subscription offerings for both fleet and retail customers. Ford CEO Jim Farley Dings BMW Over Heated Seat Subscription Model (fordauthority.com) ?...has to be one of the DUMBEST ideas ever...lets charge a monthly for Heated seats?...are you serious??? at the price of those walking electrical problems ( BMW's ) THAT feature shoudl be standard...the nit wit that thought A "subscription" for whats a standard feature on most cars , let alone one classed as a luxury manufacturer, should be fired, or at least the idiot that signed off on it. WHO in their right mind thought that was a good idea???? ASININE! Ill be curious as to what Farley comes up for something worthy of "subscription"...hint...its got to be highly desirable and something thats NOT considered standard equipment. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted November 10, 2023 Share Posted November 10, 2023 17 minutes ago, GearheadGrrrl said: To put that million dollar EV upgrade in perspective, the dealer I bought my last Ford from has an assessed property value of only a million and a half, and they signed up for the EV upgrade. Ford better give these dealers some support or EVs are gonna drive them outa business! we signed up, but I believe the "pressure" has been relaxed somewhat...may be due to Corporate having to incentivise their "golden goose" thats not exactly living up to initial expectation... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted November 11, 2023 Share Posted November 11, 2023 Everytime I go to thread, this pops into my head 1 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice-capades Posted November 11, 2023 Author Share Posted November 11, 2023 11 minutes ago, silvrsvt said: Everytime I go to thread, this pops into my head LOL... now that's funny! Everyone pointing the blame to someone else! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted November 11, 2023 Share Posted November 11, 2023 (edited) 18 hours ago, ice-capades said: LOL... now that's funny! Everyone pointing the blame to someone else! Here’s a game, delete the dealer and let the customer purchase direct with Ford. I bet Ford washes hands and points to the dealer…..as it does now…. Edited November 11, 2023 by jpd80 Typo 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 On 11/10/2023 at 6:50 PM, rperez817 said: It's not asinine, but BMW didn't do a good job marketing subscription based payment plans for heated seats and ultimately discontinued them, leaving only the fixed one time price for that feature. Jim Farley isn't a fan of BMW's previous heated seat subscription model anyway. He wants Ford to focus on high value, customized subscription offerings for both fleet and retail customers. Ford CEO Jim Farley Dings BMW Over Heated Seat Subscription Model (fordauthority.com) Please stop trying to justify what they did as...."marketing" related - it's a stupid concept. I've outlined in different threads scenarios in which it could work - but none of them involve the blanket "feature X is subscription, period" approach. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 (edited) On 11/10/2023 at 6:55 PM, jpd80 said: Here’s a game, delete the dealer and let the customer purchase direct with Ford. I bet Ford washes hands and points to the dealer…..as it does now…. Only when theres a problem....FACT...they couldnt and CANT handle it, the Dealer base is their buffer between customer and corporate, Ive sat back ( and Im sure Icecapades will confirm this ) and watched their attempts at circumventing the Dealer base, it bordered on comedy and ultimately, in person phone conversations all ended with the cop out "Contact your Dealer".....it was cut and paste 101. The screaming we encountered after being told by a Ford rep they had price protection was a classic case....thank god we had backup buyers for those that told us to go :"F" ourselves.... Edited November 13, 2023 by Deanh 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ice-capades Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 2 hours ago, Deanh said: Only when theres a problem....FACT...they couldnt and CANT handle it, the Dealer base is their buffer between customer and corporate, Ive sat back ( and Im sure Icecapades will confirm this ) and watched their attempts at circumventing the Dealer base, it bordered on comedy and ultimately, in person phone conversations all ended with the cop out "Contact your Dealer".....it was cut and paste 101. The screaming we encountered after being told by a Ford rep they had price protection was a classic case....thank god we had backup buyers for those that told us to go :"F" ourselves.... Well said! Seen all of that! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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