New York Dealerships Attempt to Pull the Plug on Ford’s EV Distribution Plan

Authors
Joyce Young, Terry Daugherty
Region
North America
Topic
Marketing & Sales
Strategy & General Management
Length
3 pages
Keywords
marketing channels
franchising
Business Strategy
Legal Action
Copyright Holder
Society for Case Research
Student Price
$4.00
Target Audience
Graduate Students
Undergraduate Students

Four New York Ford dealerships filed a lawsuit on November 29, 2022 to stop the Ford Motor Company from implementing its planned Model e certification program. The legal action occurred three days before all Ford dealerships across the United States were required to report their chosen level of participation in the program. The plan would have altered relationships with dealerships, leaving many without the opportunity to sell popular EV vehicles such as the Mustang Mach-E crossover and F-150 Lightning pickup. Rather than following Tesla’s direct-to-consumer approach, Ford CEO, Jim Farley, stated the company was betting on the dealers for its future success. Students are asked how executives at Ford should respond to the lawsuit. 

Learning Outcomes

In completing this assignment, students should be able to: 

1. Assess the impact of a good’s product life cycle on channel management decisions 

2. Compare and contrast the two types of franchising for a given business decision 

3. Evaluate the impact of channel management decisions on channel members 

4. Defend a chosen course of action/reaction for a given channel management decision