Ford Scores With US Dealers Aggressively Opting For EV

CEO Jim Farley said that nearly 65% of Ford Motor Co F dealers have agreed to sell electric vehicles as it aggressively chases its EV ambitions.
About 1,920 of Ford's nearly 3,000 dealers in the U.S. agreed to sell EVs, CNBC reports citing Farley.
He said roughly 80% of those dealers chose higher levels of investment for EVs.
Ford dealers could become "EV-certified" under one of two programs with expected investments of $500,000 or $1.2 million. With upfront costs of $900,000, dealers in the higher tier received "elite" certification with access to more EVs.
Unlike rival General Motors Co GM, Ford enables dealers to opt out of selling EVs and continue selling the company's cars.
Dealers who opted out of EV investment may go ahead when Ford reopens the certification process in 2027.
Farley found it necessary for the automaker and its dealers to cut costs, boost profits, and deliver more consistent customer sales experiences.
Farley reiterated that a direct-sales model would likely be thousands of dollars cheaper for the automaker than the auto industry's traditional franchised system.
Ford will likely release many other EVs globally to invest tens of billions of dollars in the technologies by 2026.
Ford reported a 7.8% decline in U.S. sales for November to 146,364 units. Retail sales fell 15.8%.
However, Ford EV sales jumped 102.6% Y/Y to 6,255 vehicles.
The result has made Ford America's second best-selling brand and manufacturer of electric vehicles behind Tesla, Inc TSLA.
Price Action: F shares traded higher by 0.22% at $13.41 in the premarket on the last check Tuesday.
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