This video is misleading at best, outright dishonest on some things. I retired from the finance arm of Ford Motor Company a few years ago after 30 years. I say that for some context and while I'm not an expert on everything contained in the 38 minutes, I am at least qualified to give an informed opinion on some of this.
My first reaction after watching this is, what is the main point of the whole thing? It goes from corporate greed to killing small town businesses to fraud. One thing I first want to point out is the title of the video, "Ford is Finished". Nowhere in that 38 minutes does the narrator talk about Ford failing or even struggling as a company. So right off the bat, misleading! And just to update them, in last week's quarterly financial announcement, Ford Motor gave guidance for $8.5-$10.5 billion in annual profit for 2026. And it's been around that for the last several years. Hardly sounds like a failing business. And BTW, Ford did not take any government bailout money in 2008-2009. GM and Chrysler did but in the case of Ford, it did not happen.
A lot of what is said in the video is indeed true but it really lacks proper context. For instance, it gives 19 examples of dealerships that have failed in the last 12-18 months (?) or something like that. Oh the horror! But that is probably in line with a typical year. This is not some recent phenomenon. Dealerships fail all the time.
I noticed that they kept bringing up how manufacturers forced inventory on them that they didn't want. It doesn't work that way. They do put pressure on dealerships to take inventory and there are negative trade-offs if they don't (for example, I won't give you a hot-selling model X unless you take 4 loser models off my hands). But dealers agree to buy inventory. It is not forced onto them.
One last example I wanted to bring up. Towards the end, #3 was the dealership in Maine that had been in business for 60 years. They owed $4.4 million in debt on $946,000 of inventory. There are two ways this happens: A) The bank is not auditing to make sure the dealer is paying off vehicles in a timely manner. Or B) there is a good possibility of the dealer committing fraud while not paying off vehicles as they are sold. This was not a greedy corporation forcing a small business out.
It never once in this video mentions that any of these dealerships were not properly managed as for the reason they went out of business. While it's unfortunate, this is all part of it. This is called capitalism, survival of the fittest.
I've seen you post several of these Youtube videos on auto manufacturers and dealers, and over supply. Again, while most of what they say is true it is very misleading. If I were you I'd find a new hobby that you can get a better use of your 38 minutes.
