Lucas Bell 
The launch of the Ford Bronco and Bronco Sport lineup made waves the other night, as potential buyers flocked to the Ford website to put down their $100 reservation payments. While customers may have been looking at the pricing information that Ford has provided on their website, there is one very important thing that they may have overlooked: the inevitable dealer markups. According to some reporting by Motor Authority’s Joel Feder, this could prove problematic.
Dealer markups are not a new issue in the new car market. Whenever a new product comes out that is in high demand, dealers are able to capitalize by attaching huge market adjustment fees to the final sales price of the car. This is how we ended up with new examples of the C8 Corvette and Toyota Supra with price tags well into the six figure range. Well according to Feder, Ford has no plans to stop dealers from attaching these price hikes to the reborn off-roader. This is also true for buyers who have already placed their reservations, meaning they may be on the hook for quite a bit more cash than expected based on their initial build price. The news came via a Tweet the other night, after a conversation between Feder and Ford’s North America Product Communications Manager Mike Levine.
I called @mrlevine today. In short, Ford has no plans to curb, discourage, or stop dealers from marking up all those Broncos that were reserved last night. Ford dealers could easily ruin this launch and leave a bad taste in consumers mouths.
— Joel Feder (@joelfeder) July 14, 2020
At this point, there is no real way of knowing just how much of a market adjustment Ford Bronco models will receive when they hit dealership floors. Most of the time we see these hikes attached to sports cars, but the off-roader is an enthusiast vehicle in its own right. Combine that with the fact that the Ford Bronco is by far the most anticipated vehicle of the year, and the situation seems primed for some ugly business practices. If you’ve already ordered yourself a Bronco, be ready for the dealership to possibly make this experience a bit more challenging.
