Ford CEO Farley making the tough decisions

[CKN]

Do they have any good reason for these laws?

Yes-because car dealers have strong lobbyists.Google "Slate Magazine NADA convention" for a long but interesting read.

 

[loneryder]

They all rely on one place because it goes out to the lowest bidder, and they have little or no risk management.
They can't build more parts themselves because of their union payscales would make then uncompetitive.
They all seem to lack long term thinking.
Yes, "chip shortage" is a euphemism for all parts shortages. There is no excess capacity built into the system because that costs money and isn't profitable. You see the same in electricity providers now too, and not just in California.

They are married to Just in Time inventory. Covid blew that to hades.

 

[CKN]

These franchise laws go back to the beginning of the auto industry in the US.

Ostensibly it was to protect the us consumer from the predatory manufacturers, but that morphed into the dealers being predatory.

The big 3 MUST sell through a dealer channel.

Tesla broke this mold.

Only in states that allow a car manufacturer to sell direct. Or a couple of states have passed an exception for Tesla.Tesla has a factory in Texas-but you can't buy a Tesla in Texas direct.

 

[loneryder]

Was bored yesterday.

Test drove the Vinfast VF8. Interesting experience. Not sure why anyone would buy it. It’s about $10K too expensive. Mach-E is cheaper and better. And no market adjustment on that. But overall buying a Vinfast would have probably been a great experience because you buy it directly from them. No dealers!

Maverick is $10K over MSRP. Plus the sales guy **** talked Chevy for 15 minutes. When I pulled up on one. Both companies make good and less good vehicles.

Bolt is $5K over MSRP. And they only had bright blue ones. They were willing to negotiate by $2K. Conveniently there were $2K worth of dealer addons. Paint protection etc. sales guy was out of touch. “Wow look it has regen and Bluetooth and you can find charging stations in apps” (again, I pulled up in a Volt).

Can’t get rid of car dealers fast enough! They suck!!

What is a Vinfast?

 

[CanAmAndMore]

Imagine if a car maker had their own chip plant up and running in 2020, they would have been selling all their own cars, as many as they could build during the pandemic.
That alone would have made them a fortune.
But they could have built chips for other brands, and asked outrageous prices, because they were needed.

If I was going to get into business today, build chips or cars, it would be an easy decision, I'll build the chips.
Way cheaper to make, and I bet the profit margin is crazy.
If it costs $200 to make, and you sell it $700, that is a **** lucrative business.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Do they have any good reason for these laws?

They did 50 years ago when they were put in place. Without them, you would have had no place to get warranty work completed, parts, etc. The laws could easily be re-written to say a dealer or a manufacturer service center.

Of course now there just hold overs for dealer profits - and the dealers own all the local politicians. Getting a law removed is usually harder than implementing one in the first place.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Toyota is building a chip plant in the United States.

I believe you are talking about the new fab in Japan. Toyota is part of 8 largest Japanese corporations and will partner with TSMC, who is the biggest chip fabricator in the world. The project is being subsidized by the Japanese governemnt due to the size of the project.
The new plant should start production by the end of this decade. The semiconductor plant will fab auto chips and Sony electronics chips along with chips for other companies. Probably close to $10B to complete the factory.

 

[loneryder]

I believe you are talking about the new fab in Japan. Toyota is part of 8 largest Japanese corporations and will partner with TSMC, who is the biggest chip fabricator in the world. The project is being subsidized by the Japanese governemnt due to the size of the project.
The new plant should start production by the end of this decade. The semiconductor plant will fab auto chips and Sony electronics chips along with chips for other companies. Probably close to $10B to complete the factory.

I heard they were building a plant in Az.

 

[BLND1]

All the ford dealers in San Antonio still refuse to sell me a maverick for MSRP or less without a dozen addons. I told them to pound sand and will keep my escape running.

The only thing on their lots is $70k pickup trucks.

I was looking at an F150 but almost every vehicle was fully optioned out, even the lower trims. ~$60k for an XLT. I laughed and walked out.

 

[CanAmAndMore]

 

[JeffKeryk]

I heard they were building a plant in Az.

The chip fabrication plant is a huge undertaking; Toyota would likely not do it alone. Semiconductor fabrication is the most high tech of hte high tech.
You may be referring to Toyota announcing an additional investment of $2.5 billion in its newest North American facility, Toyota Battery Manufacturing North Carolina.
There is new SEMI chip plant being planned in Arizona; it is TSMC and is part of the chip reshoring iniative. Tech baby!

FYI my career was mostly in SEMI.