Mike Levine saying outright he does NOT care about Granger/Chapman/SAC

[reaper5252006]

UDAAP LAWSUIT!!!!! Someone on here with rich pockets file the suit!

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[dgauss]

In case anyone's been waiting for an answer:
@mrlevine Fill your Bronco reservation orders ahead of allocations. We’ve already waited 15 months. Stop punishing your customers. #reservationsoverallocations
His answer tells me they just don't care.

in case he deletes his tweet, here's what it says:

Mike Levine
Replying to @robtraut and @KogodBiz
That’s exactly the plan for more than 98% of customers that didn’t place orders with a small dealer that created a special deal to attract a large number of orders.

Wow. F this guy. Glad I'm ordering a Rubicon 392 through Granger.

I normally don't post about cars on my personal instagram, but when I pick up the Jeep I'm going to do it and tag Ford + Mike Levine. They deserve to be called out.

 

[Lilj4425]

You all need to chill.

Mike Levine, is that you?

 

[RedHotFuzz]

if US Auto had not bribed our lawmakers to create systems to force us to sit in a dealership for 2+ hours doing "4 boxes, saying no to undercoating, and asking the finance guy to fix the numbers back to the initialed agreement from the sales floor.

And going back to the dealership the next day to pick up your vehicle after fighting the finance guy back to the original numbers only to find they've now added "Security VIN Glass Etching" for an additional $500 which you refuse to pay for despite their pleas "It's the only way we can make any money on this deal!"

 

[jaspercasidino]

I think Ford should do the reservations first and stock after as initially indicated. People understand commodity constraints and logistics but changing to a more traditional allocation scheme goes against what they said. This is within their business and how they choose to run it. My view is it is wrong.

When the Bronco was first announced, I started asking dealers about pricing. In my area I got no firm responses for the 4 or 5 dealers I talked to. I ultimately landed on a smaller dealer due to “pricing at what Ford will offer to customers” which I read as MSRP and lower sales tax (WA sales tax is based on dealer address). Saves me money and MSRP sounded fair.

I heard of Granger, SAC and Chapman and considered it briefly. Considering that allocations where in the game now and traveling long distances for some savings wasn’t worth the risks in my mind. I often think about the choose 2 of the 3 (you can’t get all): quality, cheap, quick. With these dealers, you get quality service, great price and (at the time) just as quick a delivery. With my dealer, I would get okay service (sometimes great, sometimes not), a fair price and same delivery speed (reservations in time stamp order) or better if allocations get messed up like they have (unknown at the time) or an inordinate amount of people with earlier time stamps are in front of me (I thought very likely as they were targeting this forum). I weighed both and decided to stick with my local dealer. Worst case was I paid more for the same thing which is a better worst case than many others are currently experiencing.

All that said, tomorrow is my 15 month anniversary of my Bronco reservation and I still have no idea when to expect it.

Also, I don’t expect most normal dealerships to be all that affected by this. Basically Ford has moved to a more traditional allocation scheme. Sell more Fords, get more Fords. Have some more Bronco orders and normally expected, get a few more allocations. Grow the Bronco brand, get more Bronco brand. This change to the weighting of the factors no doubt screws over the few dealerships and customers at those dealerships that went to provide or receive a great deal with great communication on options and pricing. My opinion though is that I don’t think they were open and honest enough with delivery timelines. I don’t mean to say they were malicious with their intent, but that they may have bitten off more than they can chew. Many people have cautioned against this but were run off or berated here on the forums.

In the end, I hope that Ford changes their stance, but based on order window opening and scheduling to be started up shortly, I’m starting to think that ship has sailed and it just sucks for those of you caught up in this mess.

 

[North7]

Agreed - read between the lines … Ford is discouraging discounting off MSRP and discouraging discounting to grow business at the expense of other Ford dealers. Does Tesla discount? It’s the new business model.

At least Tesla does not charge ADM so there are no surprises at the end. Even when you have a written sales agreement with some Ford dealer's, they still try and screw you with last minute ADM.

 

[JDS]

If Stellantis could actually get out of its own way and make a more reliable product, they would just murder Ford in this space. They have the interiors and finish pretty well nailed. Just need some reliable mechanics and electrical/computer systems. My Grand Cherokee Overland was one of the favorite cars I owned, ticked all the boxes, except the 6 months of the 2.5 years I owned it that it didn't work at all.

 

[1975U15]

What about those of us who placed our order with a small local dealer that didn't create a special deal to attract a large number of orders???

Well..... according to the regular Ford apologists...that was your fault. You should've been able to predict the lying unaccountable corporate elites would move the goal posts time and time again.

 

[malt_liqueur]

Until they mention what supposed state laws are in play, its typical bloviation to distract from the major screw up this vehicle launch has been.

bloviate is a great word. I need to use it more often.

 

[Theherofails]

bloviate is a great word. I need to use it more often.

Been using that one since my military days. Nothing worse than a First Sergeant that likes the sound if his/her own voice..

 

[Tonsterboy]

So basically I should of reserved with my local dealer that wouldn’t commit on a price. This same dealer now has several “abandoned” orders with an ADM up to $60k. This same dealer calls people before delivery and throws an adm at the order holder.

 

[Andy_M]

I don’t see what the big deal is here. 98% will get their reservations filled by the end of 2022. The cost of getting $1-2k under invoice turns out to be a slightly longer wait. Everything is a gamble, sometimes it pays off and other times it doesn’t.

 

[Razorback]

I've always liked the communication and help from Levine; but as Communications Director, that was horrible communication. I hope he clarifies the backhand comment that set this off around small dealers.

 

[RedHotFuzz]

If Stellantis could actually get out of its own way and make a more reliable product, they would just murder Ford in this space. They have the interiors and finish pretty well nailed. Just need some reliable mechanics and electrical/computer systems. My Grand Cherokee Overland was one of the favorite cars I owned, ticked all the boxes, except the 6 months of the 2.5 years I owned it that it didn't work at all.

I've never owned a Ford, and my first and only Chrysler product is my 2016 Durango R/T that got a water pump from a bad manufacturing batch that ended up catastrophically, oh, and a stupid taillight design that fills with water and burns out the LEDs (I'm on my 4th now), but is reliability really the primary selling point for any of the Big 3?

 

[Arrowbear Rider]

I understand why people are upset, but look at the numbers, 190,000 reservation spread out among how many dealers with 800 or so at the larger dealership, those larger dealers have been selling thousands of Fords a year for a long time and Ford is not going to piss them off. And they have been vocal about getting their units too.

Granger and those other 4 or 5 may have 800 or so reservations too, but even with the other small dealers mentioned, their combined their total number of reservations equal maybe 2,500-4,000 reservations (for those 4 or 5 dealers), mean while Ford has over 100 large dealerships in major markets that are responsible for 80,000 plus units (combined, 800x100) maybe more with the top 30% of dealers, so which squeaky wheel is Ford going to listen to?

I went with a larger family owned dealership and am still paying MSRP with no markups, not every large dealer is the devil.

And yes they have a right to grow their business, but not every model will be a hot seller like the Bronco and unless they become an internet boutique that moves a lot of metal through people that are willing to travel to them, their location will limit their sales and lesser vehicles. Mean while that dealer that moves a couple of thousand units... or more will easily compete price wise on "everyday" vehicles.

So, Ford will piss off a few thousand to keep the rest of the 190,000 happy.

I'm probably going to get a lot of crap for this and I'm not an Ford's apologist, I'm just looking at the numbers. In a perfect world Ford could reward a few movers like Granger and take care of the big boys, but that opens a can of worms with the next 100+ small dealers that didn't do that but want the same.

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