Ford CEO says EVs will be sold 100% online with nonnegotiable price

Post by bobthepanda » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 12:59 AM UTC

booi wrote: post #72

vkou wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That being said, is there any counterpoint to this view? 1. A national dealership network is at minimum, a soft-guarantee that your car can be maintained/recalled/fixed without you jumping through hoops. Unfortunately, that soft-guarantee is saddled with all the other baggage of car dealerships. Pushy sales-people, extended warranties, predatory loans, etc. 2. It forces you to buy local, so not all the money flows…

Looking at Detroit.. I don’t think a lot of money is flowing there.

Post by sanguy » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 1:00 AM UTC

walrus01 wrote: post #66

taeric wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Local profit? That is, in many towns, my understanding is that the local dealerships are relatively well off. Which implies that a bit more of the money is kept local to where the cars are being sold. I'm guessing this is less true today than in years past.

In many small to medium size towns if you find the family who owns the local ($BRANDNAME) dealership they are often among the wealthiest people in the entire county. edit: I can see from the two other comments here alongside mine that this is a common observation.

Post by okwubodu » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 1:01 AM UTC

phinnaeus wrote: post #21

datalopers wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re drastically underestimating how immensely popular the Ford F-150 is. Every single person who wants a truck knows about the F-150 and I’d wager the vast majority who may purchase an EV know about the F-150 Lightning or will find out as they start hitting the streets and they see them in parking lots and at stoplights.

But what percentage of those F-150 owners know there is an EV version? Or put another way, how many of them can you convert to an EV version with effective advertising?

Post by Dylan16807 » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 1:02 AM UTC

taeric wrote: post #50

paxys wrote: post #39

A lot has been said about the dealership model in the last few years, and the almost universal consensus is that it is an unnecessary and predatory industry and all auto makers should just sell cars directly like Tesla does. That being said, is there any counterpoint to this view? Are there any benefits that dealerships offer today over direct sales? What would we lose if we got rid of every dealership? If there is t…

Local profit? That is, in many towns, my understanding is that the local dealerships are relatively well off. Which implies that a bit more of the money is kept local to where the cars are being sold. I'm guessing this is less true today than in years past.

Post by LeoPanthera » Fri, Jun 03, 2022, 1:02 AM UTC

kcb wrote: post #27

LeoPanthera wrote: post #11

Tesla may not be the future of EVs, but we have to thank them for dragging everyone else into the present.

> Tesla may not be the future of EVs Based on what metric? I have a hard time looking at Tesla's sales, revenue, profit, production capacity growth and not thinking they will continue to be a leader in EVs far into the future.