Ford Motor Co. will no longer require dealers to finance through Ford Motor Credit to receive floorplan assistance following dealer blowback to the policy it announced this month.
Although most dealers already floorplan through the captive finance arm — 72 percent of Ford brand dealers and 83 percent of Lincoln brand dealers, per executives — the change was met with widespread opposition. Ford had announced in a memo that dealers who don’t floorplan through Ford Credit would lose that assistance starting in January 2023.
When Ford executives announced the change Saturday at the make meeting, many dealers stood and applauded, which made for an awkward moment when Ford Credit CEO Marion Harris addressed retailers moments later, according to those in the room.
Ford executives said they would continue with another change to the floorplan assistance program that would reimburse dealers for floorplan costs based on actual days in inventory for each vehicle up to a maximum of 75 days.
Previously, dealers received a guaranteed amount for a certain number of days in inventory. But with high demand and inventory constraints, most dealers sell vehicles as soon as they arrive to lots and ultimately make money off the current configuration.
“We made the change based on the current operating model we’re in,” Andrew Frick, general manager of sales, distribution and trucks at Ford Blue, told Automotive News. “We’ve structured a program around the new operating model we’ll be working on in today’s environment and where we want to be.”