Beo-Chin

Dont seem high to me at all since this isn't clean profit. Everybody has to get paid out of this. Whats left can be considered profit, but even those figures are small considering re-investments/development/plant improvement costs are already deducted from published profit figures. I'm guessing.....

hidesert cowboy

I think because ford sells so many you get more truck. Compared to say dodge where they always do little things to cut costs. I drove dodges for years. I think you just more truck with for because they sell 800 k units a year

bigj_16

In a former life, I drove a fair amount of vehicles owned by the Federal Government. This was over a period of years. These vehicles were turned in at regular periods, based mainly on mileage. Whenever I picked a new one up(probably at least a dozen), I would see the paperwork and the cost to the government for the vehicle. It was consistently roughly about half of the window sticker. These were anything from sedans to trucks and vans. When the government sold these at auction, many times they would recover close to the full cost of what they paid.
I can't say with certainty, but that means it's a pretty good bet that at least half the MSRP of the vehicles was profit.

RandyinTN

There is more than meets the eye when Ford sells to the government. Ford is willing to take a loss on the actual sales price knowing they will recoup it later down the road in parts, and even more importantly, the "free" advertising Ford gets by everyone else seeing the gov is buying their trucks over other brands.

SixShooter14

and billion$ in tax cuts, grants, subsidies, etc.

bigj_16

Some agencies keep thier vehicles longer. Most don't. Parts wouldn't come into it, particularly as most of these vehicles are under warranty most, if not all of thier stay. The government buys all American brands and some foreign, depending on the need. That roughly 50% I saw was for all of the brands.

bigj_16

While not denying that these manufacturers get these subsidies, it seems highly unlikely they are getting them for selling cars to the government at wholesale. GSA finds what thier customer agency wants, and asks for bids to be submitted. What is most likely is that manufacturers dump thier low selling models. There seems to be a lot of C-Maxes running around as G-cars lately.

Schlotzky

Their profit margins are very dynamic and I wouldn't be surprised if they're quite thin on the basic XL trim. Lariat and on up is where Ford is really making the money, and especially on the options like the tech package and Navigation.

toptobottom

Just as equipment is dynamic between an Authorized Dealer & Home Depot. A John Deere tractor/mower is substantially different between the two Merchants. You can't even get you're Home Depot John Deere warranty repairs performed at a John Deere authorized Dealer. There's where there's a cost difference. It basically boils down to it not being an Apples to Apples comparison.