Here in Detroit, getting an automaker’s friends and family pricing is not hard. Virtually everyone in southeastern Michigan has a relative, friend, or neighbor working for the Detroit Three or one of their suppliers – and that’s not an exaggeration. Considering how popular Ford’s employee, retiree, and friends plans – known internally as A, Z, and X-plan pricing, respectively – are here in the Detroit area, though, it seems strange that the company’s latest nationwide promotion, called the Friends & Neighbors program, flopped so horribly.
Despite being heavily featured on the company’s consumer website – configurator pricing annoyingly showed F&N pricing by default – the promotion is being cancelled well before its early January termination date. Buyers that took advantage of the plan were able to slash up to $2,000 off the entire Ford lineup, aside from stuff like the Mustang, the company’s commercial pickups, and Lincoln-badged vehicles. While that sounds like a good deal, consumers simply didn’t respond.
“We’re thrilled it’s coming to an end,” Bob Kain, the general manager at a Versailles, KY Ford dealership, told The Detroit News. The promotion confused consumers, who were expecting a bigger savings, Kain said. The dealer did salute Ford’s vigilant response to the plan’s shortcomings.
“Dealers offered insights on the kinds of offers resonating most with customers in-market, and we are updating our plan based on their feedback,” the company said in a statement, The News reports. “We will continue to be competitive yet disciplined on incentives and offers for customers.”
The Friends & Neighbors campaign will be replaced this week with a separate Holiday Sales Event. The details of the new plan were not available at the time of this writing.
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