338 dealerships around the country choose to get the Model e Certified or Certified Elite status.
Ford requires its dealers to invest $560,000 or $1,3 Million in order to be allocated EVs.
Those who didn’t get the certification will only sell combustion or hybrid-powered vehicles until at least 2027.
Ford of Canada says that 80% of its dealerships across the country have signed up for the Model e Certified or Certified Elite status.
This program came about last year when the automaker decided that its dealers will have to invest in their business in order to sell electric vehicles.
These investments include training for the technicians in order to ensure they are capable of working on EVs, as well as the addition of a number of charging stations, some of which have to be available to the public even outside of working hours.
The difference between both certification programs is that dealers who choose the Elite package get to sell as many EVs as they can in exchange for an investment of about $1.3 million.
Those who choose only the Model e Certified program will be imposed a limit on the number of EVs they can sell to their customers since their $560,000 investment will go toward employee training first.
Dealerships that choose not to get the Model e certification won’t be able to sell EVs but they will still be allocated gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles as well as hybrid models.
In order to discourage dealers from waiting before they make these kinds of investments, Ford made it so that those who haven’t signed up will not be allowed to sell any Ford-branded electric vehicle before at least 2027, when the next certification period will take place.
Obviously, this program was not received favourably by most dealers and Ford had to push back the final deadline for certifications by over a month, settling on February 24th.
Smaller dealerships and those set in rural areas where EV adoption is low think this program is unfair to them since the proceeds, they could make with EVs would take years to make up for the initial investment.
A group of dealers also retained the services of a Lawyer, but neither they nor Ford revealed if anything came from it.
Since the deadline has now passed, the automaker said that out of its 440 dealerships in Canada, 226 chose the Certified Elite program while 112 settled for the less expensive Model e Certified status.
This leaves only 102 dealerships that have decided not to take part in this program, at least for the next four years.
Source: Automotive News Canada
