Ford says no more dealer markup...

[Jim R]

When they say no more dealer markup, they mean no MORE than the MRSP markup. MSRP is a markup over dealer cost.

 

[sleepydoc]

I don't remember, but one of either Ford or VW admitted that their EVs are about to become not profitable. They may need to increase MSRP anyhow in order to become profitable...

(I think it was Ford Mach-E)

Raising the MSRP to keep up with inflation is fine, but a dealer mark up goes 100% to the dealership... if VW is losing money on an ID4 that the dealership makes 10K in pure profit on via a mark up it will cause bad blood and that dealership may be screwing themselves in the long run. Ford and other traditional OEM's are exploring the idea of making their EV's under a new brand name / spin off company that is not bound to the current dealership model, and direct marketing the cars to the customers. If the legacy OEM's jump on this bandwagon it will cause a legal fight that may get themselves (and Tesla) into direct to customer marketing in the states where direct sales are currently banned.

Keith

State laws blocking direct manufacturer sales were one of the obstacles Tesla faced. Of course now many Tesla Service centers are providing lousy service so it’s not clear that they’ve made an improvement over dealerships in that regard. (the SC’s here in Minneapolis seem to be pretty good and I’ve had good service, so I have no personal complaints.) Many dealerships have evolved around the model of making a bit of money on the sale and a lot of money on the service. If they can’t make that work without trying to rip people off by selling oil changes on an EV then they either need to change the model or go out of business.

I have no idea what the economics of EVs are for the auto makers. Tesla appears to be making a nice profit on their cars but they also have a 10 year head start on R&D. If the auto makers hadn’t taken so long to get their heads out of the sand they’d be further along, too. From what I understand Tesla has also been able to lock in materials contracts as well so they may be reaping those benefits, too. All of this is simply good business by Tesla, though.

 

[cab]

A local dealer is advertising 2 Mache e GT performance additions with $12 - $14K markups. Now, most of that is just the current ridiculous supply and demand situation, but still. Oh and the other "trick"...they are just buying the cars themselves, presumably taking the rebates, and selling them as used...WITH A MARKUP!

 

[sleepydoc]

A local dealer is advertising 2 Mache e GT performance additions with $12 - $14K markups. Now, most of that is just the current ridiculous supply and demand situation, but still. Oh and the other "trick"...they are just buying the cars themselves, presumably taking the rebates, and selling them as used...WITH A MARKUP!

I thought dealerships essentially bought and resold the cars anyway? This doesn’t surprise me, though.

 

[alexgr]

The real problem is that there is always someone pays that markup with no issue.

The real issue is that Ford does NOT see that money to be able to invest into new technologies and production.

 

[alexgr]

A local dealer is advertising 2 Mache e GT performance additions with $12 - $14K markups. Now, most of that is just the current ridiculous supply and demand situation, but still. Oh and the other "trick"...they are just buying the cars themselves, presumably taking the rebates, and selling them as used...WITH A MARKUP!

If you buy a NEW car, the rebates are yours. Are you saying they sell them as used?

 

[alexgr]

I thought dealerships essentially bought and resold the cars anyway? This doesn’t surprise me, though.

The dealerships usually do not register cars under their business. So, no, they don't really buy them.

 

[jboy210]

When they say no more dealer markup, they mean no MORE than the MRSP markup. MSRP is a markup over dealer cost.

No doubt, but to the buyer it is the "price" they saw in ads and on YouTube before they placed the order.

 

[Brando]

I, for one, can hardly wait to pay for another markup over MSRP. why not?