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

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

#61

Post by ianai »

qbasic_forever wrote: post #53
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…

The only argument for it I've read is that it indirectly forces auto manufacturers to have local service centers to handle repairs, warranty work, etc.

This. And localities outlawing direct sales due to eons of local lobbying.

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

#62

Post by superultra »

I bought a (Toyota) Scion xB when it first came to the States in 2004. The brand rollout was fixed-price, advertised as no-haggle. A big play for that era's Gen Z, Gen X. Focus was on personal customizations as upgrades, not much else rom the mono-spec model. I loved the whole concept. Dealerships hated it.

I loved that car, drove it until it the wheels fell off.

Point being, Tesla is hardly the first one to pull off this model.

https://www.toyotaofrichardson.com/blog/2016/september/29/a-...

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

#63

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]

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

#64

Post by throw1230 »

monkeybutton wrote: post #25
thinkingkong wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would they sue them for?

Yeah the thought of this is wild to me. "Distribute your product through us or else" in a free market?

It's not a free market: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_US_dealership_disputes#S...

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

#65

Post by Gigachad »

fnordpiglet wrote: post #29
kcb wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Does speculation require a metric?

Do you have a citation for that opinion?

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

#66

Post by walrus01 »

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.

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.

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

#67

Post by lvl102 »

phinnaeus wrote: post #2

I'm surprised they see spending less on advertising as part of their EV strategy. Copying Tesla in that regard might not work out the way they want it to. IMO Non-Tesla EVs are already facing an uphill awareness battle.

F-150 is the second best selling vehicle in the WORLD. Not just the US. Think about that for a moment. Even if Ford simply replaces 1/2 of them with EV, that’s more than 15x what Tesla delivered in 2021.

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

#68

Post by fnordpiglet »

spywaregorilla wrote: post #49
qbasic_forever wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non-negotiable car sales aren't new, Saturn was famous for doing it in the 90s. Their whole deal was to try to target younger buyers that didn't like the typical haggling process. Toyota did the same thing with their Scion sub-brand for the same reasons too.

Not online though. I don't want to talk to a dealer.

Yeah I bought both a Saturn in the 90’s and a Tesla in the 20’s, and while it was nice to not have to negotiate to not be screwed over I still had to spend way longer hanging out with dealer sales people. Being an engineer I hate talking to people. I much preferred my Tesla purchase experience.

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

#69

Post by paxys »

pishpash wrote: post #59
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…

It's a big purchase, so you'd want to at least test it out in person?

No dealerships doesn't mean no test drives. Tesla offers them today.

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

#70

Post by naravara »

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.

The owners of those local dealerships also tend to have a big hand in driving town politics as they’re often the richest people around.
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