Things were getting bad between Ford and its dealers
By Steve Finlay Ward's Dealer Business, Mar 1, 2002 12:00 PM

Ford dealers say relations, that hit some low points, are improving between them and the automaker now that William Clay Ford Jr. is heading the company founded by his great-grandfather.

Ford is trying to fix damaged relations with its dealers, and so far auto executives, from the namesake CEO on down, seem to be making the right moves, according to dealers.

“If we don't have good relationships with our dealers, how on earth can we hope to have good relationships with customers or communities?” says Nicholas Scheele, Ford's chief operating officer.

He and Ford North America Group Vice President Jim Padilla, at the 2002 NADA convention in New Orleans, promised dealers more openness and respect.

“Ford has been stepping up to the table,” says Fernando Garcia, president of Fall River (MA) Ford. “There's been a major shake-up at the top, and I'm delighted to see Bill Ford in. His message is, ‘We're not going to screw up again.’”

Dealer grievances have included dissatisfaction in some quarters with Blue Oval, impatience with lingering product quality problems, dislike of former CEO Jacques Nasser and anger at Ford's now-scuttled effort to acquire and run dealerships in five markets.

Ford last year dropped that three-year-old initiative, saying it caused too much trouble with dealers. They saw it as a competitive foray, and feared it would spread.

“We said that we can't have competing adjacencies and good dealer relations at the same time,” says Ralph Seekins, chairman of the Ford Dealer Council. “Ford chose good dealer relations.”

“They realize that they took the wrong course,” says Garcia after attending Ford's closed-door franchise meeting with about 900 other dealers at the NADA convention.

“They told us at the meeting that it's their job to build quality cars and it's our job to sell them. That goes a long way to improving relations,” says Garcia. “We were kicked in the shins before.”

Ford Div. President James O'Connor says Ford is in the process of selling the last five of its dealerships.

He says he told dealers at the franchise meeting that there was a disconnect with the dealer body, and that the company wants to reconnect.

Most dealers are pleased with Ford's new efforts to mend fences, says Seekins.

“Dealers see great progress although there are some who want 100% progress,” says Seekins, who owns a dealership in Fairbanks, AK.

He says people who work for Padilla “are more in tune with dealers across the country.”

He adds, “The dialogue is there. We're not always getting a ‘yes,’ and sometimes we get a ‘maybe’ but at least we're not just being put off.”

The franchise meeting attendees weren't a tough crowd “but they were a curious crowd,” according to Seekins.

The session focused on upcoming product, quality improvements and renewed trust, says Mike Shore, owner of Sharp Ford in Indianapolis, IN.

“Things were getting bad between Ford and its dealers,” says Shore. “It was as bad as I've ever seen since becoming a dealer in 1978.”

He notes that his hometown is where Ford first wanted to establish its network of company-owned dealerships. Ford scratched off Indianapolis after dealers there vehemently objected.

“We were on the edge of that plan for Ford to run dealerships,” says Shore. “So it restores trust when the new management says, ‘Our job is to build quality vehicles, and your job is to sell them.’”

It seems as though manufacturers are always talking about mending dealer relations, says Bud Colglazier, owner of Don Hinds Ford in Fishers, IN.

“But Ford is taking a lot of positive steps lately, and it's good to see,” he says.

Scott Gjovik, a Ford dealer from Sandwich, IL, tells Reuters that while the company is taking a much friendlier tone, some dealers need time to judge the new regime.

“My biggest concern with Ford is product,” Gjovik said. “We don't see the same kind of excitement over products that we see with GM.”

Garcia says, “Put product, quality and good dealer relations together, and we can take on anyone.”