Ford granted favorable ruling on EV program for dealers

The spokesperson declined to comment on other pending cases.

Lawyers in some of those other cases say the South Dakota ruling was limited in scope and may not be indicative of how decisions play out elsewhere around the country.

In New York, four dealers filed a suit against Ford last year alleging the program includes “unlawful franchise modifications, unfair pricing requirements, margin reductions and unlawful allocation systems.”

According to Rich Sox, one of the attorneys representing the dealers, both parties have exchanged information and depositions will be scheduled over the next few months. Those deposition requests will likely include Farley, Sox said.

Meanwhile, a provision in New York law could trigger an automatic stay of the program there, and Sox said a judge could issue an order within days on the dealers’ motion to enforce that stay.

A similar petition against the program exists in North Carolina, where 46 dealers are not pleased with the various sales practices they would be required to implement, including setting no-haggle prices and offering pickup and delivery.

“Through the EV program, Ford seeks to coerce dealers into expending huge sums of money unnecessarily in order to continue selling vehicles they are already authorized to sell,” the dealers wrote when they filed the petition in March. “Ford’s EV program will serve to reduce the number of Ford dealers in North Carolina and further restrict consumer access to electric vehicles, particularly those citizens residing in parts of North Carolina outside of the largest cities.”