29th Aug 2009, 01:21
I hope you're not carrying these people in at gunpoint. For some reason I believe your claims about this are bogus. If the Ford Fusion was as great as you and your "friends" think it is, it stands to reason that annual sales would at least rival comparable models from Honda and Toyota. Fusion does not come close. Also, I believe you should start a website so you can begin an advertising campaign for the wonderful Ford Fusion, maybe then they can move a lot more of them. What's interesting is that at the local Ford dealers here (three nearby towns), the used lots always has LOTS of Fords, hardly ever do I see Honda, Toyota, etc.
28th Aug 2009, 08:11
First of all... I have never seen a Ford dealer that was full of used Hondas, Toyotas and Acuras. The dealer near me usually has mostly used Fords out front. Also the Fusion is in no way in short supply here. Any quick search will turn up at least 100 cars within 50 miles. I'm not saying they aren't great cars, but let's not start making imports look worse than they are. And an Acura "limping in" to any dealer is ridiculous... unless it was in an accident before coming into the dealer of course.
Oh and please educate me how it makes sense to continue to support a business that has mismanaged itself to the point of needing tax money from the government in order to survive. Please let me know why that makes sense to you. Yes, I know Ford has not gone that route.... yet, but they have been pretty close and are not much better off than GM and Chrysler.
Plus, the worst deals I have gotten on cars have been American brands. I have walked out on many deals because they won't lower their prices and the cars are expensive at MSRP. Ford is the worst offender there and has some of the highest priced cars. Unless you get a huge rebate, any foreign car is a better bet. I've had the same experience at different GM dealers as well. It took me three hours to buy my last Ford going back and forth to get them down to the payment I said I wanted when I came in. The last Honda I bought (2008) took literally 30 seconds of discussion. They offered invoice pricing and I got 2.9% financing. Easiest deal I've had in a long time.
Domestic dealers really like to stick it to the public with their horrendous markups as well on new models. Look at the Mustang when it came out in 2005 as a retro model. Dealers were tacking on at least $8K over sticker for the first year. Dodge did that on many of its cars as well like the Neon SRT4, and now the Challenger SRT8. Ford dealers are still going strong with this practice as the markup on a Shelby Mustang is ludicrous. Try getting a Camaro SS for sticker right now.... good luck!
Foreign car dealers don't seem to do this as much. I know they all do it at some point on certain cars, but domestic dealers are by far the worst offenders. The car companies should have more control over these practices. I know many people that have shunned American cars due to this.