Ford’s internal electric vehicle certification program for dealers has ruffled feathers since its inception. Now, the automaker is signaling that it might be willing to adjust its policies. Interestingly, it’s not the dealers who didn’t sign up that will see a benefit though. Instead, the two tiers of the certification program will likely become more similar than they currently are.
The program as announced by Ford splits dealers into three categories. First, there are those who do not sign up to sell EVs like the Mach-E and F-150 Lightning. They make no additional investment and they will not get Ford EVs to sell. Then there are two tiers that do sell EVs, Model e Certified, and Certified Elite. Some 65% of dealers have signed up to be one of those two EV-selling tiers.
Those choosing the Certified route must spend up to $500,000 to install EV infrastructure while those choosing Certified Elite spend up to $1.2 million. The former is capped at selling just 25 EVs each year while the latter gets open access to EVs from Ford. As Tim Hovik, leader of the Ford National Dealer Council told Autonews, the gap between the two tiers could narrow soon.
Read: Two-Thirds Of Ford Dealers Agree To No-Haggle EV Pricing
“I’m confident we’ll come to a place where all sides feel we’re fair and within the boundaries of the franchise laws and in a position where Ford can compete and win and where our customers can be put in a position where they have a level of service that is industry-leading,” Hovik said. “We’re on a really good path right now.”
That path evidently goes down a road where Ford may not require its dealers to offer round-the-clock EV charging. It could also give Certified dealers more perks by adding their inventory to Ford.com and providing them with EV demo units. On top of that, it might allow Certified dealers to sell more than the 25 total units currently in the plan.
“I think the formula will end up being similar in numbers to what the cap is,” Hovik said, “but I do think adjusting the allocation formula could give dealers an opportunity to grow, which is really what we want.” There’s no word yet on how dealerships that chose the more expensive Certified Elite program might feel about these changes.
