Last month, I bemoaned the automobile manufacturers' stair-step pricing programs again. It appears that there is a new player in this addictive game. Ford Motor Company recently rolled out a stair-step program that offers dealers a cash bonus for reaching year-end sales targets.Ford’s sales analyst, Erich Merkle, wants to call it a dealer bonus program. Merkle called it a "volume-based growth program", You can put as much lipstick and perfume on that pig as you would like, Mr. Merkle. It has a snout, a curly tail and it says "oink". It is still a pig - and it stinks.
I have made my points about why these stair-step programs are bad for the factory, the dealer and the consumer here and here. NADA has made a statement against these programs. I've also pointed out that our South Dakota law supposedly prevents this kind of factory activity.
Merkle said it took “months” to develop this incentive program. That's a rather scary thought. Did it really take "months" to develop an incentive program that is a clone of other stair-step programs? Or did it take months to try to come up with a name and description for this program that might sound more palatable to dealers? Will the dealer recognize this pig if we call it a Sus scrofa domesticus?
My friend, Jack Kain, who is quoted in the Automotive News article, is right on with his comments: “It cheapens the product and it's just a doggone shame”. Well said Jack. Well said.
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