The EV revolution has hit a stumbling block. Secure, Sales are technically increasing, but they are not rising nearly as quickly as forecast. Car manufacturers like ford Are lose a lot on every vehicle sold, with losses running into billions – and now The edge Ford is reportedly starting to question whether it should have gone for smaller, cheaper cars instead of expensive, full-featured electric SUVs.
To be clear: Ford is not alone in this. Mercedes CFO Harald Wilhelm is called the EV market a “brutal space” after the luxury automaker reported a decline in profit and sales in the third quarter of 2023 due to electric vehicles. GM reported EV losses of $1.7 billion at the start of the year. Things look up for the American brand, but industry-wide it is still losing money.
However, Ford stands out from the competition. The company made the decision To Stop building cars back in 2018 and quickly removed the Fiesta, Focus, Fusion and Taurus models from its North American lineup. If it was affordable, had four doors, and wasn’t a truck or SUV, Ford didn’t want to make it anymore. A few years later, the company announced it was diving headfirst into the EV pool with billions in investment. Not long after, the company introduced it Mustang Mach-E And F-150 Lightningwhich were among the hottest vehicles on the market in the early 2020s.
But now the realities of the market have caught up with the company. This bet on expensive trucks and electric vehicles at the expense of small cars has resulted in billions of dollars in losses The edge Details:
The company reported its first quarter results last night, and woo boy, it’s tough. Ford said it lost $1.3 billion on sales of 10,000 electric vehicles in the first three months of the year – a staggering figure that amounts to a loss of $130,000 for each electric vehicle sold.
Even Ford’s “Model e” tech division reported an 84 percent decline in sales. While the EV side of the company is weakening, sales of large trucks and SUVs still help sustain it; The company reported nearly 217,000 Escape, Explorer, Expedition and Bronco sales, up 15 percent from 2023.
The company is now expecting this smaller, affordable Electric vehicles are its future, something it should have done. Ford is working on new battery technology and has a Silicon Valley “skunkworks” team dreaming up new, small electric vehicles that can’t come soon enough. Ford CEO Jim Farley says these affordable electric vehicles are designed specifically for city living. “We believe this is where electric vehicle adoption will grow fastest.” he said. “And we believe we can compete in a unique way in the small car and vehicle segments, lower priced vehicles – that’s Ford.” All we can say is: good luck.