Ford has written off $1.9bn as it cancelled plans for an all-electric large SUV in the US, opting to produce a hybrid version instead in the latest sign of western carmakers struggling to make profitable electric cars.
The US carmaker said on Wednesday that it would not be able to reach a profit on the electric SUV within a year, its measure of whether a new car is viable, citing the stiff competition from Chinese manufacturers. It will initially write off the cost of $400m (£300m) in tooling for the vehicle, plus another $1.5bn (£1.15bn) in extra costs in the future.
Ford also said it would delay the successor to its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck until 2027, after initially targeting a launch next year.
The Ford boss, Jim Farley, said the decision to produce fewer electric cars in favour of hybrids “gives our customers maximum choice and plays to our strengths”.
how does producing fewer options result in more choice, let alone “maximum” choice?
i feel like corporations are just throwing around “customer choice” as a justification for literally everything they do, regardless of how much “choice” is actually involved–same bullshit as tax-funded vouchers for private jesus schools
They are maximising choice by creating a new lowest rung on the ladder of choices. Now you can buy something good, or buy a Ford!
They are the customer of future “too big to fail” government bailouts, and they are choosing to get more free money.
You know what blows my mind? Ford actually made an inexpensive small truck, and they couldn’t keep them in stock. It flew off the shelves so fast pre-orders were taking almost a year to produce.
They turn around and then make an almost 6 figure electric version of the f150, then wonder why they didn’t sell.
Make an affordable electric vehicle, and you won’t have a single problem selling them. It’s not this fucking hard! Imagining how far the oil industry is up the asses of car manufacturers is a real scary thought.
They turn around and then make an almost 6 figure electric version of the f150, then wonder why they didn’t sell.
I remember when they first revealed the price as around $40k. At that price, there was a lot of demand. I don’t know if they underestimated expenses or they got greedy with the covid pump in prices, but it’s obvious that price is one of the biggest factors affecting demand. Ultimately, EVs should be cheaper to produce than internal combustion vehicles because there are far fewer parts involved.
💯💯 Just a basic electric poverty spec truck with roll up windows, and a dot matrix radio 260 miles of range, and 150kW charging We don’t need all this smart crap just own the fact that you’re old hat
Maybe stop making giant, fucking monstrosities of vehicles and focus on humanely-sized ones. I’d love to buy a Ford EV (my Fusion Hybrid has been a dream), but I do not want some grotesquely oversized monster truck or SUV (or their butt ugly crossover designs).
Every time I see one of those ridiculous bus-sized SUVs, I think of that scene from Borat where he asks the lady about it, she says it’s so her baby has room, and he’s like “must be huge baby!”
SoDo you have the plug in version of the fusion or the regular hybrid? The 20mi electric only range isn’t great, but the extra oomph on the electric motor is really nice in the city.
Regular. I kick myself every day for not buying the Energi (the plug-in version). At the time, I didn’t have anywhere to charge it. A year later, I bought a house where I could charge it easily.
The 20 mile range would cover all of my daily driving (though it’s advertised as closer to 30 or 35 i thought)
35mpg on gas, 20mi electric range. On the electric only, it’s more like 16-25 depending on weather/temp, with my high score of 30mi driving like a Granny in a 25mph zone.
I tried to get my mom to buy the energi version when she was looking at the CMAX(crossover fusion), she wanted more trunk space and got the regular hybrid. 3 years later I ended up buying the energi version (used) for a third of the price she paid new.
My 2015 Energi with 90K miles only has ~12 miles worth of range left in the PHEV battery at full charge.
Unfortunately, you aren’t the US car market. Oversized trucks and cross-over SUVs sell. The top 3 vehicles in 2023 were:
- Ford F-150
- Chevy Silverado
- Dodge Ram
The rest of the list is littered with trucks and cross-over SUVs. Though a couple Tesla vehicles make the list and do quite respectably (The Model Y is at #5). It’s no surprise that US manufacturers are targeting large vehicles. That’s what US consumers want. And sure, there are lots of arguments to be made against land-yachts. But, it made sense that Ford targeted large vehicles for EV sales. If they can get people to accept the F-150 Lightning, that could really move the needle on EV sales and help them scale up. Expecting customers to both buy-in to a newer technology and make radical changes in their buying habits, is a recipe for failure. Though, it also seems that Ford is managing to fail despite chasing consumer trends.
“My arm cannot reach the high shelf, so I will cut it off.”
If they can’t produce EVs profitably, Tesla and BYD will. They’re destroying their future in the name of short term profits.
Hyundai now sells more EVs than Ford (both in the US).
GM, Rivian, BMW and Volkswagen are the next competitors.
I’ll assume Hyundai are producing EVs profitably. All the others most certainly aren’t. All the incumbents and most of the startups are facing huge challenges in that regard.
BMW seems to do pretty well and is now selling ~20% EVs:
Once considered a laggard, the German luxury carmaker is one of only a few established automakers that has been able to compete effectively against Tesla. - source: nytimes
