North Carolina's legislature is expected to overwhelmingly approve a bill Sept. 4 that would ban Ford Division's Blue Oval dealership

certification program.

The success of the North Carolina Automobile

Dealers Association (NCADA) could trigger legislative assaults against Ford's dealer certification program in other states, according to industry observers.

According to Robert Glaser, NCADA president, the state dealer assocation wanted to make sure North Carolina was the first state with clearly stated legislation that a manufacturer cannot use multi-tier pricing.

In the 2001 model year, Ford began returning 1.25 percent of each new vehicle's invoice price only to its top rated, "Blue Oval" dealerships.

According to Ford Motor Co., non-Ford dealers are behind the opposition to Blue Oval. More than 90 percent of Ford Division's 4,000 dealerships are Blue Oval certified, according to company officials.

Ford says the 1.25 percent payments are legal incentives for dealership performance.

0 Comments