GENEVA -- Part of Ford of Europe's rebound to profitability has come from restricting dealers from self-registering cars, commonly known as "punching" cars in the United States.
Jim Farley, president of Ford of Europe, said the automaker has tried to minimize two unprofitable sales channels -- dealer self-registered vehicles and sales to rental fleets.
Cars that dealers sell to themselves are counted as an automaker's sale, then sold at a discount with minimal mileage as used cars.
"It's growing in the U.S., but it is a perfected art in Europe," Farley said in an interview at the auto show here. "In some months in Germany, 20 to 30 percent of the industry is products sold to your own dealers that they register for you as a demo unit and sell as used cars."