Ford CEO Farley to Meet with Dealers as Concerns Persist

[ice-capades]

Ford CEO Farley to Meet with Dealers as Concerns Persist

https://fordauthority.com/2024/03/ford-ceo-farley-to-meet-with-dealers-as-concerns-persist/

 

 

Tensions between Ford dealers and the automaker itself have reached a bit of a boiling point as of late, spurred on by quality issues that were left to linger perhaps too long before being addressed, as well as the controversial Model e Certified program, which is required for dealers that wish to sell all-electric vehicles moving forward. In fact, 50 percent of dealers who opted in for that particular program wound up changing their mind later on, though the automaker has been taking feedback and tweaking its requirements at the same time – including a number related to substantial investments made on the behalf of dealers. Now, Ford CEO Jim Farley will meet with dealers to help address some of these lingering concerns, according to Automotive News.

 

Farley plans to head out and hold meetings with a variety of dealers across the U.S. to get a better idea of what their specific concerns are, largely ones that revolve around electrification, affordability, and quality. This so-called “engagement tour” will consist of roughly a dozen individual sessions with around one-third of the Ford dealer network, starting in the automaker’s hometown of Dearborn, Michigan, and hitting cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas, and Atlanta between now and May.

 

“For us, it’s a great chance to sit with the dealers and discuss the challenges in the industry, whether they be compliance, regulatory issues, shifting [electric vehicle] curves or new competition,” Andrew Frick, president of Ford Blue, told Automotive News. “It gives us the chance to ask questions of them and have them inform future decisions we’ll be making.”

 

The idea for these Q&A sessions stems from the Ford National Dealer Council, which asked Farley to embark on this engagement tour at the NADA Show in Las Vegas – where some dealers felt a bit left out as they weren’t able to ask the CEO questions due to time constraints. The concept here is to talk to dealers that aren’t regular participants at events like council or committee meetings as well, which Farley believes will give him a broader and more accurate look at their concerns.

Edited March 15 by ice-capades
Additional Content

[jpd80]

It’s pretty hard to push the million dollar upgrades required for selling BEVs when there’s over 40,000 unsold ones. I would love to be a fly in the wall at the dealer meeting, pretty sure that Farley will go home with his tail between his legs…..