Ford has a big hit on its hands with the Bronco and its smaller sibling the Bronco Sport. We’ve seen huge markups on the former but very few on the latter. Now that Bronco Sport Heritage editions are making their way to dealers, that’s changing. One in California, North County Ford, confirmed that it’s asking $75,505 for one such example.
To be very clear, the Ford Bronco Sport Heritage edition is a cool-looking little SUV. Dressed up with an attractive combination of classic styling and modern capability it was sure to be a hit. What’s amazing though is that Ford says that this specific example is worth $46,730. That made us doubt a recent report showing a dealer asking $75,505 for the same vehicle.
First spotted by AutoSpies.com, the photo they posted shows a number of additional fees on top of MSRP. They include $295 for nitrogen-filled tires, $795 for window etching, and $1,395 for Stargard, a vehicle protection system not unlike Lo-Jack. Those would probably sneak by most buyers as no big deal but the $25,000 “Market Adjustment” tacked on at the bottom certainly won’t.
Read: California Porsche Dealership Asking A $250k Markup On A 911 Sport Classic
Adding further doubt to our suspicion that this wasn’t a real photograph is the fact that Ford’s CEO, Jim Farley has specifically come out against greedy dealer markups like this. Not only does data confirm that markups damage brand loyalty and experience, but it leads to lower customer satisfaction too. On top of all those factors, a lead sheet sent to us by the dealer says that the internet price is $46,730.
So you might be able to imagine how shocked we were when the dealer told us over the phone that indeed, the price for this Bronco Sport Heritage edition is $75,505. That’s a full 61.5% increase over what the automaker itself says the car should be sold to the customer for. Kind of ironic that there’s a sign on the wall behind the Bronco in the dealer that says “One Goal – Customer Satisfaction” isn’t it? Maybe underneath it, there’s a text that reads “as long as we make the biggest profit possible.”
It’s worth noting that Ford isn’t alone in dealing with this issue. General Motors has publically come out against the practice and even put measures in place to de-incentivize it and that’s better than most automakers who do little to nothing when dealers get this type of greed. Ford too deserves praise for the way it’s handled similar situations in the past.
Not only has it responded to stories similar to this one with direct involvement at the dealer level to get prices right but representatives from Ford have offered help to find dealers who won’t gouge customers like North County Ford is attempting to do here.
