Back in 2023, the annual Kerrigan Dealer Survey – conducted by Kerrigan Advisors – polled 650 anonymous dealerships between June and October of that year, seeking to determine which ones are the most and least trusting of their respective automotive brands. In that regard, Ford ranked at the very bottom as nearly half – 48 percent – of its dealers said that they don’t trust the automaker. However, it seems as if the trust between Ford dealers and the automaker improved significantly in 2024.
The 2024 version of the Kerrigan Dealer Survey was just released, and after polling more than 630 retailers, it found that 11 percent of Ford dealers have a high level of trust in the automaker, while 52 percent have a moderate level of trust and 37 percent expressed that they have “no trust” in The Blue Oval. Toyota ranked first yet again as 83 percent of its dealers have a high level of trust in that company, which is roughly 3.5 times higher than the mean of 24 percent. Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Ram, or Stellantis, ranked dead last this year with 72 percent expressing zero trust in that automaker, too.
Notably, Ford posted the largest year-over-year improvement in terms of dealers who previously had no trust in the automaker, while Honda enjoyed the largest jump in regard to dealers who have a high level of trust in the franchise. Many of these improvements stem from Ford and Honda addressing dealer concerns pertaining to EV rollout strategies and inventory levels, according to Kerrigan.
As Ford Authority previously reported, The Blue Oval planned to roll out a new program called Ford Model e that would require dealers to meet certain criteria in order to sell all-electric vehicles, but the automaker scrapped the idea entirely last June. This move came amid major criticisms from dealers regarding not only requirements involved with the process, but also, potential legal issues as well.
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