Ford’s preliminary description of how its Mannequin e retailers will operate captures many company parts, together with the automaker holding the stock. Hyundai setting the sticker value on its Ioniq 5 electrical crossover on the similar degree as its bill value — with sellers getting paid provided that they meet sure amenities or buyer satisfaction necessities — is a de facto company mannequin, albeit for just one nameplate at this level.
To make certain, many sellers can bear in mind working unprofitable new-car operations for years earlier than pandemic-driven shortages raised costs to sticker and past. For some, the concept of reliably cashing in on every automobile sale has enchantment. But when that is the plan, it needs to be negotiated upfront, together with necessary issues resembling the quantity of funding required relative to these per-vehicle spiffs.
Allow us to be clear: A change in powertrain or gas kind is a laughably poor excuse to desert a gross sales system that has labored effectively within the U.S. for greater than a century.