Ford to Quadruple Number of Dealers Selling Plug-In Vehicles

Ford announced it plans to more than quadruple the number of dealers selling plug-in vehicles.

Ford said that by this spring it will have 900 certified dealers, an increase from the 200 dealers it had at the end of 2012. The dealers will have specially trained service and sales staff and at least two on-site charging stations. This means that almost one-third of Ford’s dealers in the US will have the possibility to sell plug-in EVs.

The 900 dealers will be allowed to sell the C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid, the Focus Electric and the Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid, which is expected to hit showrooms this quarter. Ford introduced the C-Max Energi in October and since then it has sold 2,712 units, compared with the Focus Electric which has been on sales since December 2011 and sold only 685 units in 2012, becoming one of the worst selling EVs on the market.

To lease the Focus Electric, Ford is offering discounts of more than $10,000, has cut the price of the Focus EV by $2,000 only for cash sales and offers up to $10,750 off for three-year leases. For the Focus EV the automaker is also offering a $2,000 cash discount and 1.9% financing if the vehicle is bought through Ford credit.