Ford promises more dealer engagement, then skips Q&A

LAS VEGAS — Ford Motor Co.'s up-and-down relationship with its dealers was on display over 24 hours at the NADA Show here.

On Friday, CEO Jim Farley asked a group of dealers who operate smaller Ford stores for "open and honest" feedback and vowed to spend two weeks traveling the U.S. to meet with as many of them as possible. Elena Ford, the company's chief dealer engagement officer, acknowledged the group wasn't happy on a number of fronts and promised change.

The next day, however, some dealers who attended Ford's larger make meeting left disgruntled after executives offered few specifics on hot-button issues such as electric vehicles or quality improvements. The officials also failed to take questions from the dealers, in a break from the company's standard practice. They sent dealers an email after the show apologizing for not having enough time to do so.

Farley was not at the second meeting, which involved broad discussions about 2023 highlights and 2024 goals, according to multiple people in the room. At a time when dealer trust levels in Ford have plummeted, some retailers had hoped to ask about the EV certification program and recall concerns but were surprised to not get an opportunity. Executives did offer to stay and talk with dealers informally after the meeting let out, one attendee said.

"It's very disappointing when you have a town hall setting and you don't get to have your voice heard," said the dealer, who asked to not be identified discussing a closed-door meeting.

Andrew Frick, president of the Ford Blue internal combustion division and a longtime dealer liaison, told Automotive News after publication that the company intended to have a question-and-answer period but ran short on time after presentations from Ford executives and eight dealer council members. He noted that executives did stay about an hour after the meeting talking with dealers.

“At every NADA I’ve been to, we’ve always embraced the Q&A at the end,” Frick said. “The material from the team ran long. Given we only have an hour and 15 minutes and there are other franchise meetings and flights, we wanted to be very respectful of everyone’s time, so the team called an audible when they only had three minutes to go. It would have been completely insincere to hold a short Q&A.”

Frick said the apology email included an offer by Ford officials to answer any questions sent via email. Frick also noted Ford had roughly 1,200 visitors to its NADA Show booth, open throughout the weekend, which was filled with multiple information stations staffed by company representatives.

“I do think there was plenty of time to have plenty of conversation and dealer engagement,” Frick said. “The whole weekend was action-packed, and every event we had was set up for dealer interaction.”

Still, the lack of a formal question-and-answer session was notable in that David Wilson, chairman of the Ford National Dealer Council, previously told Automotive News that he was planning for more such interaction this year.

"We're going to have a dealer panel at the make meeting, and there's going to be more Q&A from the dealer body," Wilson said ahead of the show. "We're going to have more of a two-way conversation."

A Ford spokesperson declined to make any executives available for comment after the meeting. Wilson, reached later by phone, declined to comment on it.

The 75-minute gathering included presentations from dealer council leadership and subcommittee chairs, according to people in the room. Elena Ford and Rob Kaffl, director of U.S. sales, spoke on behalf of the automaker. Executives who attended but did not speak included Frick and CMO Lisa Materazzo.

The speakers discussed the need to improve quality, help with vehicle affordability and improve dealer communication, dealers said, but gave few specifics.

"There was not a lot of meat and potatoes," one attendee said.

During the earlier meeting, on Friday, executives acknowledged that Ford had caused "pain points" for dealers on a number of issues and promised to adapt its transition to EVs in response to their concerns.

"I know you're not feeling great right now, and I'm here to fix it," Elena Ford said during the Friday meeting, two people in the room told Automotive News.

After publication, a spokesperson clarified that her exact comment was: "I know you're not feeling good right now for several reasons, and we are working to change that."

The Friday meeting was for dealers who sell fewer than 300 vehicles annually, a group that includes about half of the company's 3,000 U.S. stores, officials said.

Farley told those dealers that EVs are risky for the automaker and the retail network and that he had anticipated the company wouldn't make the transition flawlessly, the two people at the meeting told Automotive News. Farley promised to continue adjusting its EV certification program and said Ford bet on its retail network rather than a direct-to-consumer model like Tesla uses.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk "doesn't like you or our model, and we will continue to support you," Farley said, according to one attendee.

Frick said Farley’s listening tour, which will take place from March to April, will involve meetings with about 900 dealers.

“I think we’ll get to go through a whole other level of engagement on issues the industry, our dealers and Ford is facing so we can all get on the same page,” Frick said.

The company said in the Friday meeting that it will implement a U.S.-only version of its Salute to Dealers honor specifically to recognize small dealers doing notable community service work. It also plans to reinstitute a program to ensure small dealers can satisfy customer orders even if they run out of allocation.

"We heard from them that they sometimes felt their voice wasn't being heard," Matt Atkenson, Ford's U.S. field operations manager, told Automotive News on Friday. "They heard from all the way at the very highest levels of our company that we want to hear from you."

Frick, who noted that dealer sentiment will be folded into performance reviews for each member of his team globally, said he was pleased with this year’s NADA Show.
 
“I think the sentiment in the room was far greater than it was a year ago,” he said. “We’re another year into a very complicated industry dynamic. The dealers left knowing that improving dealer sentiment is top of mind for all of us at Ford.”