“Get butts in seats” Dodge doing what Ford should be doing more aggressively

[luebri]

"To get enthusiasts’ “butts-in-seats” and assist with this electron baptism, Dodge is planning a whole series of events in the upcoming year, said Matt McAlear, the brand’s CEO. It will take its new EV muscle cars on tour in the first quarter of 2025 to train its sales and dealership staff and demonstrate the vehicles’ capabilities. It is launching a courtesy transportation program wherein it will send EVs to dealers to use for short-term consumer test drives, or as 96-hour loaners when customers come in to have their vehicle serviced. It will host consumer-facing “Thrill Ride” drive events at upcoming Mecum and Barrett-Jackson classic car auctions, and at its drifting/drag racing “Roadkill Nights” live events in the summer–—prime sites for the gathering of Hemis of all vintages."

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[JohnnyEV]

The reviews on the charger are not that great.

 

[luebri]

The reviews on the charger are not that great.

Yea I could not care less about the charger. My point is I think Ford should have done a lot more initially and still should be doing more to get more drivers to test drive Lightnings in any way shape or form. Especially to existing ICE full size truck drivers. The driving experience blows people away , but if they never experience it, they have no idea what they are missing.

 

[JRT]

Ya I'm not sure I understand the buyer for it either. We loved our charger and challenger. Given what we know know with EV, this is just a miss.

 

[Firn]

What Ford should have done was NOT make the dealers hate selling the lightning.

Drove by one of the local dealers, not a single lightning on the lot.

 

[Stang68]

What Ford should have done was NOT make the dealers hate selling the lightning.

Drove by one of the local dealers, not a single lightning on the lot.

Let’s not forget, dealers don’t want electric vehicles in general because it means no service appointments.

 

[FloridaMan655321]

Let’s not forget, dealers don’t want electric vehicles in general because it means no service appointments.

Sales people don't care about that in general, and if dealers can make money on sales, they won't care about the service as much either. The owners of the dealers will be glad to move to where they don't have to have so many mechanics, any excuse for a corporation to cut staff. As long as they can make money, and I'm not saying this as a negative.

Now with that said, I agree that Ford should have put more of a push to educate the staff on selling EV's. It's one thing that sucks about not controlling the dealers. I'd like to see Dodge succeed in this plan and hopefully others will follow.

 

[Stang68]

Sales people don't care about that in general, and if dealers can make money on sales, they won't care about the service as much either. The owners of the dealers will be glad to move to where they don't have to have so many mechanics, any excuse for a corporation to cut staff. As long as they can make money, and I'm not saying this as a negative.

Now with that said, I agree that Ford should have put more of a push to educate the staff on selling EV's. It's one thing that sucks about not controlling the dealers. I'd like to see Dodge succeed in this plan and hopefully others will follow.

Yeah I really do think a lot of the issues with sales comes from the salespeople. I wonder how many people wander into a Ford dealer considering an EV and are talked out of it by the sales rep. It’s just easier for them to sell it instead of explaining that you actually save money over time because of gas and service.

 

[Zprime29]

Let’s not forget, dealers don’t want electric vehicles in general because it means no service appointments.

Given the wait time for an appointment just to fix a non-EV related item at mine, the Dealer could afford to sell some EV's to lower the wait time for ICE customers. Lower wait time = happy customer. More likely to have a loaner = happy customer. More free time to spend training up techs so you don't have to rely on one transmission tech = happy customers. Happy customers = repeat customers. It ain't rocket science.

 

[Zprime29]

"To get enthusiasts’ “butts-in-seats” and assist with this electron baptism, Dodge is planning a whole series of events in the upcoming year, said Matt McAlear, the brand’s CEO. It will take its new EV muscle cars on tour in the first quarter of 2025 to train its sales and dealership staff and demonstrate the vehicles’ capabilities. It is launching a courtesy transportation program wherein it will send EVs to dealers to use for short-term consumer test drives, or as 96-hour loaners when customers come in to have their vehicle serviced. It will host consumer-facing “Thrill Ride” drive events at upcoming Mecum and Barrett-Jackson classic car auctions, and at its drifting/drag racing “Roadkill Nights” live events in the summer–—prime sites for the gathering of Hemis of all vintages."

I always go to Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale each Jan. Looking forward to checking this out.

Tangentially related, I read that Dodge/RAM is delaying the full EV in favor of rolling out the Ramcharger. Article said they will be taking orders on it first quarter next year.

 

[Nikos]

Yeah I really do think a lot of the issues with sales comes from the salespeople. I wonder how many people wander into a Ford dealer considering an EV and are talked out of it by the sales rep. It’s just easier for them to sell it instead of explaining that you actually save money over time because of gas and service.

You all have very good points on these arguments. Fortunately for me my dealer embraced EVs even though my dealer was agnostic about EVs. I kinda helped them to realize that the Mach E will sell themselves if you make sure you put their availability in social media. They did and basically couldn’t keep Mach Es more than a week. My dealer invested in FCDC stations and personel specifically trained on them. My experience from the service dept is exceptional. Now……let us go to the beginning of the Mach E release.
The sales people were dumb founded at the sight of the first Mach E. Many questions to ask the owner as to why he had ordered the first Mach E. That was me by the way. Most of the sales people would not even drive them to show them at the customers who ordered them. Some were scared of this new technology. As the conversations continued, I found the sticky truth. Mach E were ordered online. Delivered to the customer at the price that Ford charged them(me, you etc.), and the dealer sales person got almost nothing in commission. Dealer did not set prices, they just delivered the vehicles to the ordering customers.
Some dealers hated this new model of car buying. Tesla’s model left a bitter taste in every dealer’s mouth about this new way of selling vehicles.
Now you all know the rest at your localities. Ford had to change, adapt and overcome. Their dealers, was and is another struggle to this new model.
Things got better with the Lightning introduction. Then came the infrastructure problems. They found excuses to shoot down this new technology. Now, my dealer is seeing their investments payoff.

 

[jefrank]

Maybe it's because I'm in the Detroit area but I was invited to 2 different Ford events while waiting for my Lightning. Can't speak to what they did for dealers, though.

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