“Those pennies per car saved in manufacturing are costing big bucks. That’s becoming more true with all manufacturers.”
This represents a business model change. The dealership sales department is no longer the profit center part of the business. It’s only job is to get the customer behind the wheel.
In Detroit (or where ever) they build vehicles with cheaper materials and designed to not be serviceable by the owner. The higher rate of failure then requires the vehicle to be repaired by the dealer’s service department where the profit margins are hundred of percentage points over what is reasonable.
I shouldn’t have to remind you that most auto manufacturers do not own their dealerships. They are a third party. This is why Tesla had to fight so hard in a few states to be able to sell their cars directly.
Ford makes money selling cars to dealerships, parts and financing car loans. In addition to that is selling data, like everyone else does. I am sure there are other streams of income I am not aware of, but I covered most of it.
Ford sells a FL500s filter to a dealership for like 3-4 dollars and the dealer marks it up to 10-15 bucks. Most independent repair shops get a 20% break on list price for genuine parts, from the dealer franchise. With that knowledge you gotta ask how much profit a dealership makes on that part vs the manufacturer. I would say the Dealership franchises makes way more money then Ford does.
Chances are Ford is not manufacturing most of their parts anymore either.