My lovely local dealership

A year ago this month I took delivery of my 07 GT. At the same time, on the same truck was a 2007 white cobra. The cobra was placed in the showroom with a 15K dealer mark up. I have my car serviced every 3K miles at this dealership. I noticed yesterday, while I was getting my oil changed, that the tires on this car have "flat spotted" from not being moved. There is dust on the dash board is as old as the dealer mark up. Does anyone besided me find this stupid? What is the dealership thinking? Ok, Ford, does anyone else see why your stock is sliding and your company is in trouble? Maybe its just me, I never professed to being that smart.

Personally as much as I would love to own a Cobra, I would never buy a car that has sat for a year, for MSRP; much less absorb a dealer mark up. Dont think I am alone on that concept.
 
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You are not alone AP. At our largest local Ford Dealership the owner has been sitting on a 2002 Panoz Esperante with a $20,000 mark-up for 5 years (no price or pics listed in links - but it's on the window sticker)
http://www.futurefordroseville.com/detail.cfm?ID=198595

In this time I have bought the 2003 GT and the 2005 S197 from them... and there it sits.

They also have a 2000 Cobra-R which has been sitting with a $74,000 mark-up for 7 years.
http://www.futurefordroseville.com/detail.cfm?ID=198594

I am sure the engine has seized and the oil has started to turn to coal. :lol: I wouldn't TAKE either of these if they gave them to me as gifts. :nonono:

If you scroll through this link you will come across the 3 Shelbys he has in the showroom which have all been sitting with HUGE mark-ups since about as long as the one in your dealership, AP. EVEN WORSE the 427R sits OUTSIDE and has been hanging around like a bad hangover. :nono:

http://www.futurefordroseville.com/category.cfm?catnum=2415
 
My largest local Ford Dealership, the one I bought my 2007 S197 from, just recently got a white Shelby GT...with a $15k markup - yeah $50,000.

The guy told me "Yeah, that can be yours for the low price of $50,000...it is a Shelby after all!" For $50,000 I'd buy a Vette.

Ford is going to have to wise up sooner or later. I understand their ability to price gouge due to them having sole reign on the current muscle car market. However, with the Challenger due out I believe in 2008, and the Camaro I believe in 2009, Ford is going to have to answer back - not only with a bigger, better engine (naturally) but a price that will sell to the masses. Because, the masses want horsepower, they aren't adept at car mechanics or performance. The general population will choose the car on looks and HP more than likely (the Mustang obviously wins out on looks over the Camaro, and inches by the Challenger - HP on the otherhand :rolleyes: .) Ford has to compete with the forthcoming mass-produced Challenger and Camaro, otherwise lose dominance the muscle car market...and the rest of their stock.
 
My dealer didn't get the second Shelby he was entitled to because the first was so hard to sell at a $10,000 markup.
I would have bought it at sticker or a bit less. He would have still made money.
Am I missing something here?
 
Am I missing something here?

No, but Ford is. Walk into a Scion or Saturn dealer. There is no haggle on the price. The MSRP is what you pay and no more... no matter how "cool" the car is. I believe all manufacturers should do it this way. That way there is no BS mark ups, or driving many miles to a dealer to try to get what you think is a "good deal" and wasting your time.
 
With all of the aftermarket goodies for our GTs, there is no way I would pay more than MSRP for these Shelbys...EVER! For the absurd dealer markups you can easily mod the GT for more power and better handling. I wouldn't care about the car not having the Shelby value, because I want to drive it! Hell, I have nearly 28K miles on mine(bought it with 8.3 miles last Aug 29th)...what would that do to a Shelbys value?????:rlaugh:
Ford will do just fine when the Challenger/Camaro hit the street. It's the dealers that will be hurting and lowering their prices back to MSRP...QUICKLY!
 
Ford will do just fine when the Challenger/Camaro hit the street. It's the dealers that will be hurting and lowering their prices back to MSRP...QUICKLY!

I hope so kooldawg. I'm already planning on buying Ford's "answer" to the pending Camaro and Challenger :nice: .

The bigger question, what is Ford going to do to improve the body style of the S197...I don't think there is much. ::bad feeling about Ford completing messing up the look they have going::.
 
the thing that the stangs have going for them (compared to the camaro anyways) is no bigger brother to have to live under. the camaro will be making good power - i've heard 350. thats as high as it is going to go for a while anyways. they can't do any special editions, otherwise the camaro would possibly outperform, or at least get too damn close to, the vette. besides, other than maybe the yenko and zl1, what special edition camaros were there back in the day anyways?

we get higher powered special edition mustangs often since we dont have to worry about stealing the thunder from our own model line.
 
You know Chevy will be putting out a Shelby killer SS at some point... The Corvette and Camaro are in 2 different niches. I don't see many people buying(at least before the Camaro was killed off)a high powered SE Camaro instead of the Corvette.
 
True, but the Camaro would have to have at least 500 hp to take out the GT500. Do you really think they would make a Camaro that could dust the base vette and would have as much horsepower as the Z06?

Sure - They take nearly the same exact engine, detune it and dump it in the Camaro and then lie about the true SAE ratings (just like they did with the 4th generation F-body TransAms and Cameros). :D :rlaugh:
 
It's not Ford, it's the Ford dealers.
Ford would love to see their cars move at or near MSRP.
Their sales would be much, much better than they currently are.
They can't make the dealer sell for MSRP.
And the dealer's it seems are more than happy to watch a car die on the lot.
:shrug:
 
Very true. On the flip side, Ford Corporate business metric analytics could be performed to see which dealerships are sitting on large unsold inventories and change their Sales & Services Agreements to ensure that mark-ups on their branded inventories does not occur.

This is not how the Ford Sales & Services Agreement with their Franchise Dealership works under contract law. A dealership technically purchases the right to sell cars under their namesake. Inventories brought onto the lots are purchased from Ford under a specific agreement @ a negotiated unit cost. Once Ford fills the purchase order and agreement for the dealer, Ford is in the clear.

The dealer now owns the inventory and the sales rights to place whatever retail price set - including mark-ups. The window sticker is only required by federal law to state the manufactures suggested price. If you were to view the PO price - the price the dealer obtained the vehicle for - you would probably crap noodles.

Again, Ford sets a "suggested" price; however, they are not allowed under anti-trust laws to force a price on any franchise dealer. If they try to do so they are in some serious legal trouble under anti-trust laws.

In a large corporate environment one cannot simply turn a "blind eye" to the problems. There are vehicle manufactures and resale organizations that have boxed legal language that removes this floating mark-up from the end sale. Ford and most large manufactures still work under a dealership determinable retail price sales contract.
 
Because the Apple stores are owned and operated by Apple. They are not independently owned franchises. State law governs franchise law and the franchise agreements must meet the federal anti-trust laws concerning the regulation of price.

(I love this stuff.... hahahahahha)

As for Nike, I am unsure and would have to look into that one. But right now I have to get ready for an interview. Wish me luck. I will simply crap if provided an opportunity to work at an engineering firm. lol
 
There are many companies that "fix" the prices of their products. That's why some items cost the same no matter where you buy them, even if it is Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart sells ipods, by the way.
Good luck on your interview.