Ford Wants To Compete With Tesla, But Its Dealers Are Getting In The Way

[1st4rd]

• Tesla's share of the US electric-car market fell from 81% to 69% in February.
• The Mustang Mach-E was nearly the sole reason for Tesla's market-share losses.
• Ford's new electric car has been widely successful, winning awards and Wall Street's approval.

This is old info from Business Insider, but the trend seems to be holding. Ford is a big threat to Tesla's dominance in EVs. If they build a quality EV that has a soul, performs great, and is worth the money, Tesla is in trouble.

Overall I agree with some of this discussion- mainly that dealerships are a net negative in many people's minds and I also hate to go there to buy anything. What Ford is trying to do is come up with a hybrid model that will offer showrooms and local service while trying to set a more universal price. They have a long way to go but we are really just talking about the first year of this process. They can't be Tesla, but they can be an alternative that successfully competes with them.

I don't agree with the idea that Tesla offers a fair price. They change their prices at any time, they drop features on a whim with no discount in price to the consumer - often without transparency, so the buyer has to figure this out after the fact. They obviously shocked the system with a ton of innovation out of the gate, but need to refresh soon or they will lose serious market share.

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[BuckeyeinNV]

• Tesla's share of the US electric-car market fell from 81% to 69% in February.
• The Mustang Mach-E was nearly the sole reason for Tesla's market-share losses.
• Ford's new electric car has been widely successful, winning awards and Wall Street's approval.

This is old info from Business Insider, but the trend seems to be holding. Ford is a big threat to Tesla's dominance in EVs. If they build a quality EV that has a soul, performs great, and is worth the money, Tesla is in trouble.

Overall I agree with some of this discussion- mainly that dealerships are a net negative in many people's minds and I also hate to go there to buy anything. What Ford is trying to do is come up with a hybrid model that will offer showrooms and local service while trying to set a more universal price. They have a long way to go but we are really just talking about the first year of this process. They can't be Tesla, but they can be an alternative that successfully competes with them.

I don't agree with the idea that Tesla offers a fair price. They change their prices at any time, they drop features on a whim with no discount in price to the consumer - often without transparency, so the buyer has to figure this out after the fact. They obviously shocked the system with a ton of innovation out of the gate, but need to refresh soon or they will lose serious market share.

Market share numbers can be misleading. If Tesla sales are going up but market share is going down because there are new players in the market, then that's not a bad sign for Tesla at all. And Tesla is selling more cars than they ever have right now.

And as the old adage goes - competition is good for business. If Ford can convince more of the buying public that electric vehicles are a viable option, that could increase sales for Tesla and EV vehicles in general.

 

[Big Boss]

I'm convinced in today's times that the dealer model is archaic but I prefer to pass judgement until all this Covid crap is cleared up and everything is back to normal.

I agree it is archaic but I do think it needs to be there in some shape or form. It needs to be there for times when someone needs a car right now, vs ordering and waiting for one.

 

[JediMcMuffin]

Which dealership do you work for?

I've been called many things, misinformed is a new one. Here are several of the informative threads and posts I written to help forum members in the car buying process (no, I don't work in the automotive industry).

2021 Bronco pricing & savings spreadsheet (X-Plan vs Invoice and Below Invoice)

Great advice, wish I had seen it a long time ago.

 

[GoTigersGoBronco]

I’ve been through the buying process with Tesla and I’ve known a bunch of people who’ve been through the service process. I appreciate the delusion or fantasy that it’s wholly better than dealing with a dealer.

 

[Boxer4]

Somewhat off topic-
It’s interesting that at the moment a Bronco in hand at MSRP is marginally worth 5 to 10 times the difference of a yet to be built one at $ 1000 under invoice.
What a game it’s all been watching price vs utility decisions.

 

[Techun]

So 62% of new car buyers are women (2021 ). Telsa data from a couple years back- Model 3 , 16% female. Women tend to buy vehicles based on utility. Model 3 failed to provide the utility of a hatchback. Not sure how that design is a value to the larger market.
Saturn like Scion were price fixed. That only works if you keep supply below demand. As Saturn's inventory increased, one way they found to dump cars was to "hide" a price drop in their low lease rates. At one point you could pay more by purchasing a Saturn, as the lease had a discounted gross capitalized cost of about $3000 less ( Ion Model ).
The US car market demands significant inventory as 40,000 new cars are sold each day. Time will tell if Tesla can find a way to meet immediate demand with a large based product appeal.

The ion was a turd and not a real Saturn. The brand was dead by then.

 

[bajabronco57]

I've said this a few times, Tesla isn't the only one doing this sales model. Carmax and now Carvana both used fixed prices. People are accustomed to paying what they see online for items now, Amazon, and when they show up to take delivery and are met with a ADM they are justifiably upset.

The primary reason dealerships still exist is because there are many state laws protecting them by denying consumers the ability to buy direct from the manufacture.

 

[Danzer]

I'll give my $.02 since I have a Tesla Model 3 with 105,000 miles in less than 3 years. It's by far the best vehicle I've ever owned. Soulless is far from how I would describe it. It's torque off the line and handling since the batteries are low make it an incredibly fun car to drive. I never worry about having to pass someone because the power to the wheels is instant. Since I've owned it they have added so many features with Over the Air updates like...
Video recoding when anyone gets near my car.
10 % increase torque and horsepower
UI improvements
While charging or parked they added Netflix, YouTube, Disney Plus and video games.
There are too many others to list. Fortunately I haven't need any major service to the car where I needed to take it in to the service center. I had a couple minor things like my rear trunk latch stopped working and my driver window wouldn't go up all the way. For both of those issues I scheduled it through the app and Tesla came to my house and took care of both issues. I think everyone can get onboard with that type of service. I have taken it on multiple road trips and it does add some time to the drive without question but you stop to take a leak and get something to eat so it's not too bad. I drive to Phoenix a lot from Cali. The Autopilot works great on highways for road trips. You could probably set up an iPad and watch movies if you wanted to-Not Recommended. I think they're a ways from Self driving on surface streets but highway driving works well. And like someone pointed out there are Tesla Superchargers everywhere and they're adding more all the time. Charging times are getting better also and will improve as the batteries get better. The best thing to do is set up a 220V-50A breaker at home to charge at night. I'm a Construction Superintendent so I also set up charging stations at my jobs so I don't have to pay for it. I got a lot of shit from co-workers because I got rid of my truck but once I take them for a drive their attitude changes quickly. I've only lost 2 races off the line so far by a McClaren and the new mid engine corvette. I had the Corvette for the first 60 ft. and then he pulled away. I haven't raced a whole lot of really fast cars either though so I'm sure a lot of them will beat me. I think my 0-60 is about 4.4 seconds or so with about 440 horsepower.

 

[Wanted33]

The first paragraph is the bullshit of the whole deal. A dealer can snitch on his competitor, what a crock. And, a dealer can sell over MSRP/Invoice, but cannot sell under. Yeah boy, that really makes me want to buy an EV from Ford.

 

[Phil]

The first paragraph is the bullshit of the whole deal. A dealer can snitch on his competitor, what a crock. And, a dealer can sell over MSRP/Invoice, but cannot sell under. Yeah boy, that really makes me want to buy an EV from Ford.

If a dealer can snitch on his competitor he can just as easy work with his competitor to game the system doesn't take a genius to see that

 

[Corsair]

They take forever to update products. The Model S has been out since 2021 and just got its first major refresh this past June....

I haven’t bought into the Musk insanity, but I’d say a refresh in under 6 months isn’t all that long.

 

[Rcarpen22]

There are a lot of very differing views in this thread. As someone with a lot of experience with Tesla, I can say I have had nothing but great service experiences. Every time one of my Teslas (we've had two) needs service, they either come perform the service at my house or give a me a nice loaner while my car is in. I get text messages throughout the process to keep me informed, and the service is always done on time. Ford has not thus far compared favorably. My Bronco suffered an engine failure at 600 miles. The dealer couldn't diagnose the problem. After Ford engineers figured it out, they rushed a new long block to the dealer. The dealer has had the new engine for two weeks and has yet to start the swap. The Bronco has been at the dealer 8 weeks today with no end in sight. They never communicate, even when I call or email. They won't even call Ford back to tell the customer reps what's going on. And there's apparently nothing Ford can do about it. Yes, Tesla changes the price all the time and that has pissed me off. They also have made changes to the cars that they shouldn't have (supercharger throttling). Tesla is not a perfect company by any means, but I still prefer their model to traditional car dealers.

 

[Sherminiator]

Market share numbers can be misleading. If Tesla sales are going up but market share is going down because there are new players in the market, then that's not a bad sign for Tesla at all. And Tesla is selling more cars than they ever have right now.

And as the old adage goes - competition is good for business. If Ford can convince more of the buying public that electric vehicles are a viable option, that could increase sales for Tesla and EV vehicles in general.

Market share doesn't mean jack shit-GM was the largest auto manufacture in the world and they still went Bankrupt.

I don't get your last sentence? It makes no sense.

 

[Sherminiator]

If Ford really wanted to become a leader in the EV market, they would focus on the electric Transit and make the electric F-150 available as a base model. The sea change is going to come from converting urban commercial fleets.

I haven't looked into the Transit Electric, but the F-150 Lighting aka the BEV F-150 starts at 40K or so. The F-150 XL, which is "fleet" special, is around that price or more, going by the models listed at local dealerships.

I think Ford has a good handle on the truck market and catering to it. The Lighting looks like its going to be a success story without the Exotic price tag that the cybertruck or Riven is going to have.

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