Both customers and dealerships need to get used to electric cars. Aside from learning how to fix EVs, mechanics, and sellers also need to learn how to charge them. Salespeople need to learn how to teach customers about EVs. A number of dealerships are making expensive changes to prepare for the release of electric cars. But the Blue Oval is telling people to wait a minute because these changes are happening right now at Ford stores. During a meeting with its dealer council in early June, Ford plans to change its EV retail standards based on what people have said in earlier sessions. President of Ford Blue, the automaker’s electric vehicle subsidiary, Andrew Frick, told Automotive News that they don’t want them to make any decisions until the middle of June. By that time, they hope to have more information to make decisions based on what they work out with the council in the next few weeks. There is a great deal that we are going to scrutinize. At the end of last year, dealerships were unhappy with the brand’s build quality, prices, and the general lack of progress in the electric vehicle market. In the eleven meetings before this one, which were all attended by Ford CEO Jim Farley, breakout tables were set up so that dealers could talk about any problems they openly had with the brand. To rebuild its dealer network, Ford is being open about everything, from helping with floor plans to changing Ford Credit to the specs for electric vehicles. Frick said we had honest chats about every area of the business, which was excellent. “Nothing was off limits.” Besides that, he said that 93% of sellers had more faith in the brand after the talks. Dealers will have to spend a lot of money—up to $1.2 million—to follow the rules for selling EVs. That’s hard to do when there’s no proof that the investment will pay off, and EV stocks can grow in value over time. Sellers may feel safer making that call after the next meeting.
