Ford’s bold EV move will surely see dealerships fold throughout the United States
Ford is giving its US dealers six weeks to decide if they want to sell EVs, or prefer to stay out of the most significant trend in the history of the automotive market.
The decision for dealers, which offers two levels of certification with costs estimated at between half a million and 1.2 million dollars, involves not only installing high-speed chargers and offering at least one permanently available to the public, but also a more important change for the culture of car sales: transparent fixed prices, without any negotiation, and available on its website so that they can be consulted and compared directly by users. In other words, it should be possible to carry out the purchase entirely through the website, although the laws of many states still require that it must be done through an authorized dealer.
If dealers prefer not to become certified, they will be limited to selling diesel, petrol and and hybrids only, a line in decline that the company has announced will cease to exist before 2030 in Europe and 2040 in the rest of the world.
The company, which has been making significant cuts to its workforce over the last few years, is relying on the transition to electric vehicles to start turning a profit, and on the development of new technologies in…