Ford Options Financing More Than 2,000 Mustang Mach-E Vehicles in U.S.

[trutolife27]

https://m.at.ford.com/en/homepage/news-and-clipsheet/news/2021/7/financing-options.html

Ford Options Financing More Than 2,000 Mustang Mach-E Vehicles in U.S.

Bryan Langworthy usually leases his vehicles. But while shopping for a Ford Mustang Mach-E, he looked at his options and went with Options, becoming the first customer for the newly offered U.S. financing program for the Mustang Mach-E.

As of July 20, more than 2,000 customers had chosen Ford Options to finance a Mustang Mach-E out of total vehicle sales of around 12,400. Overall, Ford Credit is financing just under half of Mustang Mach-E sales.

“We launched Options to provide a lease-like product to let our customers claim the federal electric vehicle tax credit,” said Dante Burchi, Ford Credit Consumer Product marketing manager.

“We did extra communications around the benefits of the tax credit and total cost of ownership in training with dealers, business centers and our regional teams.”

Options development was centered on the customer and delivering a great product.


“The reaction to Options has been the opposite of what we expected,” said Jana Hitson, a former retail analyst who worked on the Options launch. She is now a business development manager. “Options is proving much more popular than we expected.”

Customers financing a Mach-E can choose traditional retail financing, leasing or Options. Options, variants of which have been used for many years in other markets globally, allows customers at contract end to turn in the vehicle without owing anything but excess wear and use; buy or refinance the vehicle for the contract-end price; or sell or trade in the vehicle.

“Options has been so successful because of the communications between every department that touches this product, willingness to help and willingness to get people trained,” Hitson said. “It was like an orchestra of people from sales, operations, risk, centers of excellence, IT, legal, e-commerce, e-contracting, brand, product organization and supporting systems.

“The general excitement over Mustang Mach-E definitely had a role,” she added. “These customers also drove Options by interacting and helping each other in the Mach-E online fan forum. People were doing their homework and realizing that Options leads to a lower total cost of ownership.”

The total cost of ownership is what appealed to Langworthy, who happens to work in Ford Credit Consumer Risk department. He joined a popular Mustang Mach-E forum in his personal capacity and tips off fellow Ford Credit employees when a potential Mustang Mach-E customer posts that their dealer seems to be unfamiliar with Options and its benefits. The Ford Credit field teams then work with the dealer to make sure the product is understood, offered and explained. He’s also explained the difference between a lease and the Options retail product to fans who are confused.

“Usually, I would lease,” he said. “I thought this BEV would have a good lifespan and last longer than an internal combustion vehicle, so I might want to keep it longer term. Options gives me the lowest cost and the chance to turn it in at the end of the four-year contract.”

It’s not looking like he’ll give up the Mustang Mach-E, though, with its driving range, fast charging, power, comfort, quality and pretty much everything.

“It is by far the best car I’ve ever owned. It is fantastic – so quiet, smooth and fast, and so much fun to drive,” said Langworthy, who has taken it on several road trips already and who has given rides to relatives like his brother-in-law.

“My brother-in-law was blown away by the instant acceleration and the power. You just push on the pedal and it goes – whoosh, you’re gone. I wish everyone could drive it.”

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[blue92lx]

Sorry but I had to do the laughing emoji at this one. They sure are patting themselves on the back for all of this extensive education that hardly any dealership even knows about. Most dealerships haven't even heard of options, let alone know how it works.

This quote is hilarious:
"Options has been so successful because of the communications between every department that touches this product, willingness to help and willingness to get people trained,” Hitson said. “It was like an orchestra of people from sales, operations, risk, centers of excellence, IT, legal, e-commerce, e-contracting, brand, product organization and supporting systems"


Oh really? All the way down to the IT departments? Gtfo of here with this self congratulating BS.

I'm personally doing options and only because this forum knows what the options plans are and how it works. If I had waited until my purchase day there's no way I'd understand it. I bet they'd have a lot more people on options if the dealerships knew that it even existed, and if they do know it's available most don't know anything about how it works.

 

[Dnorwood98]

Sorry but I had to do the laughing emoji at this one. They sure are patting themselves on the back for all of this extensive education that hardly any dealership even knows about. Most dealerships haven't even heard of options, let alone know how it works.

This quote is hilarious:
"Options has been so successful because of the communications between every department that touches this product, willingness to help and willingness to get people trained,” Hitson said. “It was like an orchestra of people from sales, operations, risk, centers of excellence, IT, legal, e-commerce, e-contracting, brand, product organization and supporting systems"


Oh really? All the way down to the IT departments? Gtfo of here with this self congratulating BS.

I'm personally doing options and only because this forum knows what the options plans are and how it works. If I had waited until my purchase day there's no way I'd understand it. I bet they'd have a lot more people on options if the dealerships knew that it even existed, and if they do know it's available most don't know anything about how it works.

100 percent agree. Educated consumers, not dealers/finance officers are the ones driving this. I had to point my dealership to the website so they could read up on it. They were clueless and thought I wanted a lease.

 

[HuntingPudel]

Yeah, until Options was broken down on the forum and @hybrid2bev helped out a bunch of forum members I was going to go with traditional financing. Now I want to go with Options.

 

[trutolife27]

Yeah, until Options was broken down on the forum and @hybrid2bev helped out a bunch of forum members I was going to go with traditional financing. Now I want to go with Options.

Maybe that is why this article was posted. A hidden gem, a thank you to hybird............. The world may never know.

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

Maybe that is why this article was posted. A hidden gem, a thank you to hybird............. The world may never know.

@hybrid2bev was promoted to Chief Social Bottle Washer and Options Representative, North America Division so he was taken care of. I heard it came with one of these as a bonus.

 

[JRT]

The options program gave me a $150/month payment reduction and a balloon payment of $18k in 4 years which I consider very reasonable

 

[hybrid2bev]

Sorry but I had to do the laughing emoji at this one. They sure are patting themselves on the back for all of this extensive education that hardly any dealership even knows about. Most dealerships haven't even heard of options, let alone know how it works.

This quote is hilarious:
"Options has been so successful because of the communications between every department that touches this product, willingness to help and willingness to get people trained,” Hitson said. “It was like an orchestra of people from sales, operations, risk, centers of excellence, IT, legal, e-commerce, e-contracting, brand, product organization and supporting systems"


Oh really? All the way down to the IT departments? Gtfo of here with this self congratulating BS.

I'm personally doing options and only because this forum knows what the options plans are and how it works. If I had waited until my purchase day there's no way I'd understand it. I bet they'd have a lot more people on options if the dealerships knew that it even existed, and if they do know it's available most don't know anything about how it works.

Don't be too hard on Jana. She's referring to the hard work done internally to revive and repurpose Options for the Mach-E.

Now, you're 100% right that it all goes to waste if the dealers don't read the wonderful materials made available to them.

 

[HuntingPudel]

The Super-Fob! <reverent kowtowing>

 

[hybrid2bev]

@hybrid2bev was promoted to Chief Social Bottle Washer and Options Representative, North America Division so he was taken care of. I heard it came with one of these as a bonus.

Wait, I'm not supposed to do this for free?

 

[Mickey the T]

I wonder what percentage of the 2,000 Ford Options contracts never would have happened without hybrid2bev's help...

 

[blue92lx]

The options program gave me a $150/month payment reduction and a balloon payment of $18k in 4 years which I consider very reasonable

This is the thing. Ford dealerships need to get off their asses because I bet more MME's would be sold if people knew options could lower their payments while also letting them fully own their car, unlike a lease. Options is actually an amazing program if people actually knew what it really was. To be fair it's really confusing, it took me a while to wrap my head around it, but once I had it figured out thanks to people on here like @hybrid2bev it was a no brainer to do it.

 

[blue92lx]

Don't be too hard on Jana. She's referring to the hard work done internally to revive and repurpose Options for the Mach-E.

Now, you're 100% right that it all goes to waste if the dealers don't read the wonderful materials made available to them.

I guess I can understand it if she's talking internally at Ford Corp. There's a huge disconnect with what Ford wants and what their dealerships want. I hope one day the dealers can come to terms that eventually the world will be EV and that Ford is handing them the keys to the kingdom. You'd think the dealers would embrace the MME but from this forum it seems like a lot of dealerships are resistant to change, and they'd actually sell more MME if they knew what options was. There's basically no downside to going with Options, and I hope it's not just a one time short term promotion for selling the first MMEs. Ford could stand to sell more cars in general if they used options on all vehicles coming out.

 

[ZuleMME]

Yea, it's not like the $2500 off had anything to do with people wanting it... Nope, not at all...

 

[Nemy]

I can echo everything here. I only knew about the inner-workings of Options because of this forum. My salesperson kept telling me that it was a lease and they were questioning whether they had done the paperwork properly...

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