Ford termination: Fort Worth

[possum]

Fort Worth Star Telegram reports Ford Motor Co has terminated Manuel Lincoln-Mercury in Fort Worth, TX. There was no mention of another Dealer taking his place, it just said there are now 2 Dealerships in the Metoplex area to serve customers. There are NO Lincoln-Mercury Dealerships in the city of Fort Worth.

It gave no reason for the termination.

[SHACOS]

Only two LM stores in the entire metroplex? That doesn't seem like enough to serve the entire area.

[possum]

There is one in Weatherford, which is 30 miles west of Ft. Worth, and one in North Richland Hills, in NE Tarrant County. And thats it for the Fort Worth Metro / Tarrant County market.

[Txflyer]

Wow, wonder what's up with that?

[Ralph]

My cousin was an LM Dealer who sold out to Ford, closed about 20 days before Lehman Bros fell in Sept 2008, anyway, he told me his friends still in the game have said Ford is now buying franchises back again.

[XDCX]

...he told me his friends still in the game have said Ford is now buying franchises back again.

I remember posting a thread about a month or so ago about a Lincoln Mercury dealer in the Seattle area who said he accepted a buy-out from Ford. I thought he was just trying to put a positive "spin" on why he decided to close the store but now it sounds like it's true.

Maybe Ford wants to pare down their dealer network before the car business recovers and dealers are no longer willing to walk away?