Ford Motor Co F is warning dealers not to upsell reservations for the hotly-anticipated full-size electric pickup F-150 Lightning, Detroit Free Press reported, citing a letter from the legacy automaker.
What Happened: The Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford is warning dealers against asking customers to sign a contract preventing them from reselling the Lightning within a year.
The letter was sent last week to dealer principals, the general manager and sales managers and alleges that a “limited number of dealerships” are interacting with customers in a manner that is negatively impacting Ford’s customer satisfaction and brand image.
These interactions include dealers demanding additional deposits from customers who already have the reservation.
"The Dealer shall avoid in every way any 'bait,' deceptive, misleading, confusing or illegal advertising or business practices," the letter said, adding that Ford will redirect all allocations of the F-150 Lightning if a particular dealer is found engaging in such malpractices.
Ford is also asking dealers to modify the contract language that will help prevent customers from buying and immediately reselling the pickup truck for a profit.
Why It Matters: Ford is speeding ahead with plans to double production for its all-electric F-150 Lightning truck that will go on sale this spring. The gas-powered F-150 is Ford’s best-selling and most profitable vehicle, the effects of which the automaker believes would trickle into the electric variant as well.
Ford plans to ramp up production to about 80,000 units of production for the 2023 model year and to150,000 units per year by mid-2023.
The legacy automaker’s new target is to meet “soaring customer demand” and comes amid the company’s push to switch entirely to electric vehicles in the coming years.
Price Action: Ford shares closed marginally lower at $24.4 a share on Friday. The stock is up 12.3% so far this year.
Photo: Courtesy of Ford
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