For the NNPA
DETROIT (NNPA) – Ford Motor Minority Dealers Association (FMMDA) has called for Ford Motor Company to take immediate action to stop the decline of its minority dealers.
The group, comprised of minority dealers from around the country, contends that while 807 African-Americans have been through Ford Motor Company’s Dealer Development program, only 132 remain.
FMMDA said in 1984 that Ford made a commitment to have 320 profitable dealers by 1989 and most recently, in 2003, agreed to work toward a 15 percent minority inclusion in its total dealer ranks.
“We understand that survival is the word of the day. However, the abandoned commitment and support of minority dealers is no ‘way forward’,” said Dr. A.V. Fleming, executive director and CEO of FMMDA, making reference to the automaker’s aggressive “Way Forward” restructuring plan.
Fleming said Ford Motor Company needs to follow through on implementing a study to be done by Howard University agreed upon during a March meeting with Bill Ford. The study will look at the current condition of minority dealers and take four immediate plans of action. They include 1) Stop closing African-American/ethnic minority dealerships; 2) Identify the causes of dealership failures; 3) Correct the causes for the closing and failures; and 4) Recommitment of corporate and financial support.
Fleming said Bill Ford and top-level management have been amenable to FMMDA, but the organization is prepared to take action in court, or in Congress, if the automaker fails to address the issue.
“We can and must stop it (the decline) and we will do it by any means necessary,” Fleming said.
Approximately 50 current and former African-American Ford dealers from around the country were on hand for a press conference in Detroit held by FMMDA last week to express the group’s concerns.
Rev. Jesse Jackson, head of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, who attended the press conference, said Ford needs to take immediate action.
“If we are good enough to buy the products, we are good enough to sell the products,” Jackson said. “These dealerships should not be facing elimination.”
Jim Cain, a Ford spokesman, said the automaker wants to work with FMMDA to address their concerns.
“Seven percent of our Ford and Lincoln dealers are minority dealers,” said Cain, who also attended the press conference. “We’ve made a commitment to our minority dealers and we remain committed to that goal, but times are tough.”
Ford officials say the 807 dealer number used to illustrate the decline of Ford’s minority dealers is misleading.
“The 807 figure is cumulative over almost 40 years,” Cain said. “It includes dealers who succeeded, dealers who failed and dealers who sold their business to non-minorities. Just since 2003, there have been more than 50 minority-owned stores sold to non-minorities. We currently have about 180 African American dealers. FMMDA counts dealers. We count stores. Some dealers own multiple franchises.”
At the end of September, Ford had 352 minority-owned dealerships, compared to 377 for 2005, 359 for 2004, and 350 for 2003. The automaker’s overall dealer count is roughly 4,300, also down from previous years.
GM currently has 354 minority dealers, of which 92 are African-American. The Chrysler Group has 170 minority dealers, which includes 59 African-Americans, of which 94 percent of are privately owned, and the remaining 6 percent are in the state of owning 100 percent of their dealership, said a Chrysler official.
The African-American dealership rolls for foreign car makers is substantially lower than Ford, GM and the Chrysler Group.
Industry experts contend that a lot of the problems facing Ford, including those associated with its minority dealers, stem from an issue with new products or lack thereof.
Ford, traditionally No. 2 in U.S. sales, fell to fourth place in the U.S. auto market in November, behind Toyota and DaimlerChrysler for the first time.
The automaker posted an increase in sales in November with the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan, Lincoln MKZ, the new Ford Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator. But its domestic sales dropped nearly 10 percent in November, partly due to a decrease in sales of its once popular F-Series trucks, and a planned drop in Taurus sales to rental car companies as the automaker ended production of the sedan.
Ford also suffered from poor sales of the Ford Freestyle crossover, with sales reportedly down 40 percent, and the Mercury Montego sedan with sales down 42 percent.
Ford yielded a third-quarter net loss of more than $5 billion.
The current condition of the automaker presents challenges across the board, noted Cain.
“Our sales and our market share have declined over the years and it affects everybody,” he said.
Jackson said Ford’s sales decline might stem from ineffective marketing strategies and the automaker’s inability to position its products to a key consumer group, the minorities the company employs.
Fleming said Ford has set high standards for the development of minority dealerships, so the automaker should want to work aggressively to resolve the decline in African- American dealers.
“We want Ford to resurrect the spirit of Henry Ford,” said Fleming.
The goal, said Cain, is to find a middle ground that makes sense for FMMDA and Ford.
H explained, “At the end of the day we have to let them know where our business strategies stand and where their business stands.”