Ford CEO Jim Farley said around 65% of Ford Motor’s dealers agreed to sell EVs as the automaker invests billions in expanding production and sales of the battery-powered vehicles, as per CNBC.
According to Farley, about 1,920 of Ford’s almost 3,000 US dealers agreed to sell EVs. He also stated that about 80% of those dealers chose a higher level of EV investment.
Dealers could choose between two programs
Ford provided its dealers the selection to be “EV-certified” under one of two programs, with expected investments of $500,000 or $1.2 million. Dealers in the higher tier, carrying $900,000 of upfront costs, receive “elite” certification and are allocated more electric vehicles.
Unlike General Motors, Ford allows dealers to opt out of selling electric vehicles and continue to sell the brand’s cars. GM offered buyouts to Cadillac and Buick dealers that did not want to invest in selling EVs.
Dealers who decided to refrain from investing in EVs may do so when the manufacturer reopens the certification process in 2027.
We think that the EV adoption in the US will take time, so we wanted to give dealers a chance to come back.
Jim Farley, Ford CEO
Model e division
The company’s plans to sell EVs have been a subject of contention since the brand split off its fully-electric vehicle business earlier this 2022 into a separate division called Model e.
Farley noted that the automaker and its dealers needed to increase profits, reduce costs, and deliver more consistent consumer sales experiences.
The CEO also emphasized that a direct-sales model is approximately thousands of dollars less for the company than the auto industry’s traditional franchised system.
Wall Street analysts broadly viewed direct-to-customer sales as a benefit to optimize profit. However, there have been increasing pains for Tesla, which uses the sales model to service its vehicles.
More electric vehicles by 2026
Ford’s current lineup of fully-electric vehicles includes the e-Transit van, Ford F-150 Lightning, and Mustang Mach-E. By 2026, the carmaker is anticipated to launch other EVs globally under a plan to invest tens of billions of dollars in the technologies.
