Ford may ship vehicles awaiting semiconductors and related components to dealerships and task its dealers with completing assembly once chips are available.
The car manufacturer began discussing its intentions with certain dealers this week. Current plans, which are yet to be finalized, would allow dealer to opt-in to receive the unfinished vehicles while their service technicians would be trained on how to install the chips.
An individual with knowledge of the discussions told Auto News that dealers would be compensated for slightly less than an hour’s worth of labor for each vehicle.
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It is understood that Ford is looking to off-load vehicles that are quickly filling up company-owned lots across the U.S. to ensure it can keep its assembly plants running. Sending these unfinished vehicles directly to dealerships would also allow them to reach the hands of customers more quickly.
“We are exploring a number of different options as we work to get our customers and dealerships their new vehicles as quickly as possible,” a Ford spokesman said.
Not all dealerships are fond of the idea. Some of them expressed their concern about shifting the responsibility and liability from Ford factories to dealerships. However, others welcome the move as it will allow them to put new vehicles on their lots.
In late April, Ford had 22,000 partially built vehicles awaiting chips. The automaker has been hit particularly hard by the crisis and expects it to result in slashing production by 1.1 million units this year.
