Ford is taking control of pricing and availability

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUdHx2zX4Uo

The comments are as interesting as the video. Sounds like many buyers would be happy to only pay full sticker. That side of fixed pricing isn't touched on in the video.

The transition is going to be painful - but inevitable - dealers will be transporter drop-up off places only and provide repair/warranty services

Yes - consumers will have to pay whatever the manufacturer wants

Hopefully, once all the manufacturers transition to on-line direct sales, competition should return and discounts/sales will lead to mark-downs from full retail

But I could be totally wrong...

It may not be that bad of a deal.

Scarce cars with sell at sticker, not above.

I am sure less popular cars will be subject to rebates and financing deals.

So when the new Bronco blows up after 2800 miles who deals with the mess? It's great to want to control the sales but the manufacture could never control full product sales and service.

Tell that to Tesla.

This could potentially remove Ford from selling new vehicles in WV. There is a law that prohibits manufacturers from selling direct, it's why Teslas aren't sold new here but I'm unsure if it only applies to EVs.

Dealer groups have some fairly strong lobbies in some States.
Then again, dealerships make their money in the "back end": Service & Parts mostly, and at some, their Body Shops.
So if the dealers see it as less Sales Dept. overhead, but with Customer access, they might swallow the plan.

Last time I bought a new car, I had fun toying with the Sales guys for a couple weeks, because I had options.
I'll probably never buy a new car again, but that was such a sport when I was holding the cards...

Odd because my local Toyota dealer recently spun their used car operations off. You go to the dealership and it is new cars only. Have to go about a block away for the used cars. Normally wouldn't notice that except they have set up a used car only sales location in the adjacent county. So I'm figuring the new sales and shop belong to one side and the more profitable used cars are their own gig. The dealer can then report back to the manufacturer that profits are only X on the one side. We all know that for years, the money was on the used side but now, they can kinda wash their money. Used cars are bought, sent to the other service side, repairs made and profit recorded on that side. Years ago a Honda dealer owned the transports. To wash profits a bit, he would simply charge more to deliver the cars.

It doesn't work like that. The franchised dealer buys new cars and parts from the manufacturer. Used cars are the dealers, has nothing to do with the manufacturer. Simplified version.

Back in 2017, I bought a new 4 Runner from a Toyota dealer an hour from where I live because they were the most professional people to work with. There is a Toyota dealer in my town that is 10 minutes from my house. I wont do business with them because they are clowns, and have a terrible reputation. I still drive an hour to get my 4 Runner serviced by the dealer i bought it from. It has been a great vehicle that now has 165,000 on it - and the dealer does a great job on the service.

Some dealers are good, others are bad.

Shows profit margins. So the dealership can now go back toToyota and say show they are only making X% overall. The used car side is the true money maker.

Dealers are independently owned, they don't need to show their profits to the manufacturer. They only need to abide by the dealer agreement and the policy and procedure manual. Any financials they share with the factory is only to show they are compliant. The factory doesn't care how much money they make as long as they are compliant with their agreements.

The question I ask myself is:
As EV’s go through their “sorting out reliability” period
and substantially less new IC engined vehicles are built
will the selling prices of used gas/diesel vehicles go up, and by what percentage?

I also wonder about natural gas vehicles,
and wonder what UPS thinks about how long they will run their NG fuelled
package delivery vans with the green rear doors.

Natural gas powered vehicles have been around forever, just never really pushed until around 10 years ago with massive incentives tied to them(read fleet vehicles). Natural gas prices are at an all time high, but still much more affordable than standard gas most places. Only complaints I've heard about them is that when in "tractors" the are grossly underpowered.

when used in tractors, and the results are under-powered, would that be the result of the engines compression not be raised/lowered [i don't know which way would be the best, but i'm guessing raised] to take full advantage of the CNG ?