Ford hits back at Tesla's price cuts by lopping nearly $6,000 off the Mustang Mach-E
Ford has already set its sights on Tesla. Now it's the first to hit back in a pricing war started by Elon Musk earlier this month.
www.businessinsider.com
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Ford slashes Mach-E prices by up to $5,900... offers refunds to customers that paid higher price
- Thread starter Macb00kemdanno
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www.businessinsider.com
CapeOne
Active Member
Tesla has stores, galleries, service centers, and body shops. Tesla's dealerships, which can include service centers, are typically referred to as stores.
Regardless of what a manufacturer may want to call them whether it be store, center, space, etc., they are still dealerships. Same is true for the salespeople whether they are called sales consultants, sales advisors, client advisors, sales representative or whatever.
zoomer0056
Active Member
The fact is, Tesla doesn't call their Service Centers or Delivery Centers dealerships. Things change, new things arise, old ones fall out of favor .... always changing world.
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ZenRockGarden
Active Member
And there is a difference in how Tesla delivery centers work. They really are there to primarily deliver cars. You order and buy the cars online. There's almost no "sales" to it. The opposite of the classic car dealer which exists to find ways to talk hapless customers into buying what's on the lot at the worst possible price.
CapeOne
Active Member
A lot of that can be marketing gimmickry. As I stated above, just because a manufacturer may want to call sales facilities stores, centers, spaces or whatever does not mean they aren't still in actuality dealerships. BMW, for example, calls them "Centers" and has been since at least the 1990s but that doesn't mean they aren't dealerships.
In many ways, Tesla is like traditional dealerships in that you can speak with salespeople, test drive vehicles, buy new or used vehicles from inventory (including having cars located and shipped from other locations) or custom order, trade vehicles, etc. Tesla, like BMW, can call them whatever they want but they are still dealerships.
zoomer0056
Active Member
That's an admission. Stealerships are scared of gimmickry.
Terrified Of Tesla, NADA Launches Campaign To Tout Benefits Of Franchise Dealerships
Tesla's roadmap to success has been long and winding and full of potholes. One of the biggest obstacles vexing the startup automaker has been America's network of state franchise laws, most of which prevent automakers -- even small ones like Tesla -- from selling directly to consumers. But CEO...
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Maybe a better way to talk about this: in the age of custom-ordered EVs, what is a dealership?
Ford allows people to order MMEs online. Dealerships get the cars people don't take delivery on.
If all a dealership does is resell the custom jobs passed on by other buyers, what point does it serve except to tack on ADM?
ZenRockGarden
Active Member
Yep, and for those that take home-delivery, there's even less of anything resembling a "dealership" in the mix
CapeOne
Active Member
That's an admission. Stealerships are scared of gimmickry.
Terrified Of Tesla, NADA Launches Campaign To Tout Benefits Of Franchise Dealerships
Tesla's roadmap to success has been long and winding and full of potholes. One of the biggest obstacles vexing the startup automaker has been America's network of state franchise laws, most of which prevent automakers -- even small ones like Tesla -- from selling directly to consumers. But CEO...www.thecarconnection.com
The article you included is from nearly nine years ago but yes, the NADA would rather see independent ownership of dealerships than have dealerships owned by manufacturers. Tesla, on the other hand, would rather own the dealerships and get the related profits rather than give/share those potential profits with independent third party owners.
CapeOne
Active Member
Dealerships can have a variety of different roles depending on needs of the customers including answering questions, offering test drives, selling cars from stock, taking custom orders, locating cars from other locations, selling used cars, taking trade-ins (including multiple trade-ins towards one car), buying cars outright (without customers buying one), arranging financing, offering online buying including home delivery, handling government paperwork, servicing vehicles, selling parts and accessories, and more.
Not every dealership offers all of these (including Tesla) but they are all dealerships. The biggest difference being Tesla owns its dealerships while others are typically owned by independent third parties.
Tesla did the same thing some other dealerships did. Increase the selling price to take advantage of higher per car demand due to tight inventories.
zoomer0056
Active Member
Yup, but it's still relevant. Multiple NADA stealerships vs one Service Center. Old model vs new model.
From Tesla (no mention of, well ... you know):
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ZenRockGarden
Active Member
Tesla doesn't get any dealer-added-profits. It ELIMINATED that middle layer and sells all cars online at exactly MSRP.
Thinking that traditional car dealers were somehow protecting you from being exploited by the car manufacturer is.... hilarious. Go to your nearest Ford dealer and ask how much they are ADDING in dealer-markup on a F150-Lightning to get some perspective on reality. Ford is desperately trying to STOP it's dealers from screwing it's customers and is mostly unable.
CapeOne
Active Member
No… it's dealerships vs. dealerships.
A Tesla Store is a dealership, a BMW Center is a dealership, a Lexus dealership is a dealership, etc. They can call them or not call them whatever they want but they are still dealerships. Don't fall for the marketing gimmicks.
The main difference is who owns them, the manufacturer or an independent third party.
CapeOne
Active Member
By owning the dealerships, Tesla keeps the profits that would’ve gone to independent owners. That's a reasons why their automotive margins are higher than the norm. They get the manufacturer profits plus what would've been the independent dealership profits.
When Tesla raised prices significantly last year they were doing so as the manufacturer and the dealer. The "added markups" came via raising the MSRP but the net result was the same. Tesla, like other dealerships, was taking advantage of the higher per car demand due to tight inventories.
Tesla didn’t try to stop its dealers from “screwing customers” by raising prices because Tesla was the dealers "screwing customers" by raising prices. Tesla took advantage of the unusual inventory situation and in doing so was no better than the some other dealers who had been doing the same.
I was referring to regular ICE F150s - its the volume driver for Ford. The 5% comment was for the current, updated Mach E prices.
zoomer0056
Active Member
Called a marketing gimmick by some, but Service Centers are the Tesla way ... a business paradigm shift as compared to those other guys ... direct to customer. No middleman. Tesla cannot be a NADA member (National Automobile Dealers Association). Tesla Service Centers don't have franchise contracts with Tesla, they are Tesla.
Tesla Official says it nicely:
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The main difference is the sales model with a single price on any given day for all buyers at all locations. If Tesla had some sort of deal where independently owned dealerships all sold/delivered cars that were ordered online with no price negotiation and no dealer-added options, it would be indistinguishable from the customer's perspective.
Back in the day Saturn came close with the pricing model, but the dealerships would still try to sell you undercoating and extended warranties.
I might buy something other than a Tesla for my next car, but I would have to have a very compelling reason to buy it through a negotiation process at a dealership. If I can't just go online and buy it, that's a huge disincentive for me. I really don't care who owns the building or pays the employees where I go to pick it up.
Over night Tesla has discounted several Model Ys in "inventory" in the Denver area by an additional $2500. These are new cars (50 or less miles). Price for a white model Y with the 20" induction wheels is listed at $52,990. As a custom order it is listed as $55,490.
CapeOne
Active Member
Not necessarily. Stores are typically where Tesla sales activity takes places e.g., to test drive a Tesla, shoppers are asked to visit a STORE near them (as shown from Tesla website below).
However, once again, it doesn't matter what a company may choose to call them for a marketing gimmick. They are still dealerships.
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