Ford Blue Oval

[Rob Kealey]

I am interested in reactions from Ford franchises about the Blue Oval program. Do you believe that the certification points are reasonable? Will you have any problem becoming certified? Will not being certified put you at a competitive disadvantage? Will certification be able to be accomplished by in house resources, or will you be getting outside help?

Thanks Rob

[fordman]

BlueOval is an attempt of Ford to save money. They are taking away 1% point of holdback from dealers. Dealers can get this back plus .25 by conforming to BlueOval. If you look over the criteria, after you do your self assessment, Powers will come in and check 173 items. Dealers were told at the Houston launch that you must pass all 173 items. If you do not pass you do not get this money from ford and you must pay Powers to come back and try again. Dealers that do not become BlueOval will have a distinct disadvantage over dealers that are. I feel very few dealers can become BlueOval certified if Powers goes by the letter of the criteria as it is written. Hats off to Ford they have successfully pulled the wool over the dealer council's eyes and got another cost transfer program installed.

[Mike Vogel]

I agree, Ford is making the dealer the scapegoat again, I would like to see J.D. Power do an evaluation of Ford's operation and quality control efforts (what's that ?) Until Ford makes dramatic improvements on their product quality and get rid of product problems (ongoing) and parts availability issues I can't see how we can measure up to the standards that are being set. I believe Ford dealers can do only so much to move the needle, the rest has to come as a result of what I just mentioned. As stated in the other reply by Fordman, its another way for Ford to take money from the dealer, if they really want to improve customer satisfaction they need to start in their own backyard !!

------------------
Mike Vogel
Claremont Toyota/Ford
Claremont, CA

[Rob K]

Thanks for your responses on this topic. looks like Ford has the same in store for Lincoln only more so.