First FFE Sighting

[Gigi]

On my way to work this morning, at one traffic light, I saw two Leafs go by and I thought, "What a good job Nissan is doing selling Leafs in the Atlanta market. This place is practically crawling with these froggy-looking things. If only people here knew about the Focus Electric." Next, I heard a sponsor's message (commercial) on NPR touting the all electric Nissan Leaf.

A couple of miles down the road, at about 8:40 or so, at Sandy Plains and Piedmont, I saw an Ice Storm FFE stopped at the light. It was the first time I've noticed an FFE on the road. I would have blinked my lights or waved, but I wasn't driving "Effie" and I figured the driver wouldn't know why I was excitedly blinking or waving.

When I look at the number of Leafs on the road around here, I can see that there is a sizable market in Atlanta for electric vehicles. I would like to see Ford get their share of this market because I think that the Focus Electric is a good car. I'm telling everybody I can. I wish that Ford would start letting people know what a good car they have to offer.

 

[jmueller065]

Atlanta the 3rd best market for the Leaf:
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/08/20130826-leaf.html

Yeah Ford doesn't market the FFE very much at all. Even if they did you'd have to convince the dealers that yes you really do want one and not one of those Energi things.

You could have honked & waved: Had the FFE owner noticed that your Fusion also has a plug they may have realized you were one in the family.

 

[Richmond72]

When in the Volt, I always give a honk with the "pedestrian horn". I have spotted about 4-5 different FFEs around Sandy Springs but it was before I got my FFE. Now that I think of it, I don't think I have been in my FFE when seeing another FFE except for the day of the first ice/snow storm. I was too busy worried about sliding off of the road to wave or beep.

 

[Gigi]

Atlanta the 3rd best market for the Leaf:
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2013/08/20130826-leaf.html

Yeah Ford doesn't market the FFE very much at all. Even if they did you'd have to convince the dealers that yes you really do want one and not one of those Energi things.

I don't get it. We have some huge Ford dealers around Atlanta. I found only one dealer on my side of town that had FFEs on the lot and I haven't seen them have more than four at a time. There's a Ford dealer nearby that is next door to a Nissan dealer - both owned by the same company. The Nissan dealer has 45 Leafs on the lot and the Ford dealer doesn't even sell Energis or FFEs. The Ford dealer that I bought our Fusion Energi from seems to be doing fine selling hybrid and Energi Fords and hybrid Lincolns, but they have no FFEs. The Nissan dealer around the corner from them has 14 Leafs on the lot. Is it any wonder who is selling more EVs in Atlanta? I have seen more Teslas on the road here than I have FFEs.

Looking at the article, I am surprised to see Atlanta in the same company with San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Portland. Who'd have thought it?

 

[Gigi]

I don't think I have been in my FFE when seeing another FFE. . .

If you see/hear a platinum white Fusion Energi honking at you, Richmond, it's me.

 

[jmueller065]

I also think that the dealers have instructions from Ford that they cannot stock the FFE--they are "made to order" only (one reason why you don't see any in stock).

At least this was the case when we ordered ours last February (got it in May). The sales person told us that the only FFE they had in stock was a demo only FFE and they couldn't sell it--we had to order our car.

 

[WattsUp]

Here in the SF Bay Area, FFEs were and are in stock. I took mine from stock.

 

[Gigi]

Curiosity got to me and I checked around. I can find only 3 FFEs available in the entire Atlanta metro area - at the same dealer where I got mine. This is a metro area of over 6 million people, most of whom hate sitting in rush hour traffic, which happens to be the best driving environment for an EV. As Jamie pointed out, Atlanta is the third best selling market for Leafs, and only three FFVs are available here. I would bet that if people could see more of these cars, they'd buy more of them and be happy driving them.

 

[kmaluo]

My local Ford Dealership President told me that the FFE is strictly a compliance car for Ford. He said that Ford loses money on these and produce only what they have to.

 

[Richmond72]

If you see/hear a platinum white Fusion Energi honking at you, Richmond, it's me.

Ok, I'll be on the lookout for you. Right now I have a "VSU" plate on the front so I am easy to spot. I am in the Volt for now while the FFE waits for the Ford engineer to get to town and take a look at it.

My local Ford Dealership President told me that the FFE is strictly a compliance car for Ford. He said that Ford loses money on these and produce only what they have to.

I've read the same information.

I think the Georgia EV market is so hot because of the state tax credit. I have read several articles that talk about almost driving the Leaf for free (of course now I see that a state rep is talking about doing away with the credit). I was actually thinking about a Leaf as a the Volt replacement but once I saw the $6000 rebate for the FFE it was a no brainer.

 

[unplugged]

My local Ford Dealership President told me that the FFE is strictly a compliance car for Ford. He said that Ford loses money on these and produce only what they have to.

A "compliance car" suggests that it would only be available in the California or Oregon market. These are two states that have required EV sales in order to meet regulatory mandates. Since the Focus Electric is available in all 50 states (yes, it is sold in Alaska), it is not a true compliance car. Further, if Ford was losing money on each vehicle produced, I am not sure why they would sell it nationwide and not restrict it to California like GM does with the Spark EV, Fiat does with the 500e, and Honda does with the Fit EV.

The conclusion is that no one can really figure out why Ford offers a nationwide EV and then does nothing to market it. Your local Dealership President is just guessing in regard to the issue of Ford losing money on each sale. (If that were true, why would Ford drop the price by $5K? So they could lose even more money?) Clearly, Nissan offers a similar product and has no qualms about losing money on each vehicle. I spoke at length with the Focus Electric marketing director and he would offer no insight as to why there is a lack of marketing support from Ford.

 

[jmueller065]

... and produce only what they have to.

If that were the case then Ford would produce a fixed amount and once those were gone you'd be out of luck finding any (Electric Honda Fit anyone).

Not only is Ford producing and selling them in all 50 states they are also producing and selling them in Europe. If it really was a compliance car, why build it in two plants?

 

[pjam3]

I've only seen one other FFE in my area and this was before and after I bought mine. I've seen a ton of Leafs, I see Volts all the time, I see Tesla Model S's all the time, I've seen a couple of Fisker Karma's, I've seen a few Tesla Roadster's, and Prius's seem to be every other car in some areas.

Most of the dealerships around me don't even have a FFE. And the few that do only have like 1 or 2 of them and most of the sales people have no clue about them. They try to get you into the Energi or C-Max. The dealers and service centers around me are so clueless. They sent me a Free Oil Change gift card and a discount on something else after I bought my car. I know this is all automated, but still, it's kind of like, wow with all the analytics and data collected these days, you send me a free Oil Change gift card after I just bought your electric car. Talk about feeling unwanted by Ford.

Whereas Tesla is just so into you. I never even bought one, but test drove them, put a down a few bucks, and then decided against it, but damn, they send me updates all the time and it seems far more real than marketing automation. Hell, even when Tesla had those fires, I got an email from Musk and others explaining those issues and improvements. It is a far different experience. And I'm not even an owner. And I know a few owners of Tesla's who just love that company. They are treated like kings. Yes it's a $100K car and all, but at the end of the day, there are some people who spent like $40K on the FFE when it first came out. That's not exactly cheap for what the car is.

It just feels like Ford has a compliance car and could care less about it. It really hasn't been updated in a few years, many of the dealers don't know about them and don't carry them, and the service centers are pretty much pointless when it comes to any issues you might have with them.

It is odd how they really don't seem to care at all about the FFE. In my opinion, it's far better than the Leaf or Volt in many aspects. A nicer package. But the Leaf is king and the FFE is pretty much "oh ford makes an all electric car?"