Ford to Scale Back Dealership Network

Ford Motor Co. wants to reduce its dealership network in the United States, particularly in major metropolitan areas such as Southern California, to allow the survivors to improve profits as the company battles to reverse a decade of slumping sales.

The plan, outlined to dealers at a meeting in Las Vegas last week, will be “voluntary and collaborative,” Ford spokesman Jim Cain said Monday. Details have not been announced.

For Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford, the problem is too many dealers chasing a shrinking pool of customers for its cars and trucks.

There are 134 Ford dealers in Southern California, selling an average of 900 cars and trucks a year, said one Ford dealer who asked not to be named because he was negotiating a financial deal with Ford and didn’t want to sour the relationship. Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp., by comparison, has 75 dealers covering the same territory, each selling about 4,000 vehicles a year.

LA Times