Ford’s Felonious Failure
At some point, there will be no news about the Ford Motor Company’s electric vehicle fiasco. But we’re not there yet, as the most recent reports show that the automaker is paying dearly for its commitment to a Potemkin market built by a government that promised favors to companies that would follow its agenda.
Ford’s EV misfortunes have reached a nearly unimaginable low. The company announced Monday that it’s taking a $19.5 billion writedown while eliminating a number of its EV models. Reuters calls it “the most dramatic example yet of the auto industry’s retreat from battery-powered models,” while the Daily Mail says it’s “a major retreat from Ford’s most ambitious EV bet.”
Energy author Robert Bryce simply says Ford’s EV fixation was “felony stupid” and wonders how CEO Jim Farley still has a job.
“The hard truth is that Ford, which makes its money by selling F-150s and other trucks, didn’t understand who its customers are,” he says. “EVs have always been a niche-market product, not a mass-market one. And that niche market is dominated by wealthy, white, male, liberal voters who live in a handful of heavily Democratic cities and counties.”
Bryce figures the company’s total losses caused by its EV infatuation will be more than $35 billion.
“Since 2022, Ford’s losses on its EVs are more than three times the amount it made in profit!”
It was only a few years ago that Ford went, as reported by the Detroit Free Press, “all-in on electric vehicles with (a) massive multibillion-dollar investment.” The company’s “historic investment in its future” was to “pump more than $11 billion into manufacturing a strong, dependable supply of essential parts for electric vehicles, creating nearly 11,000 jobs along the way.” The “commitment” was the “single biggest investment in the history of the 118-year-old automaker.”
On Monday, the Free Press reported the company was making a “big pivot in future vehicle offerings,” and expects that by 2030, “half of all vehicles Ford sells globally will be hybrids, extended-range EVs and electric vehicles compared with 17% today.” The lineup will include a smaller EV pickup.
It seems the company has yet to learn its lesson: Focus on internal-combustion F series trucks, Broncos, and Mustangs, the models that make the money. There is no better time than now to do so, with the administration rolling back the federal corporate average fuel economy standard so automakers won’t have to litter their lineups with high-mileage tin cans and battery-operated toys for the rich, and the market telling the industry that EVs are not for everyone.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment