Ford CEO expects EV sales to be cut in half after US tax credits end today

[MountainAlive]

Fun while it lasted?
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[RLXXI]

Ehh, it's just one man's opinion. Doesn't hold any value.

 

[Joe.....Montana]

One man who, as it would be, is the head of an automotive company...but this one man also thought EV adoption would be far greater...also a man in a month (if sales only drop, to say, 8%) that can come out and say "EV's are proving to be more resilient and didn't drop nearly as much as we thought! It's great!"

 

[Vulnox]

What happens after the credits end is entirely up to people like Farley and claiming defeat so soon should be seen as not doing what is in the best interest of the shareholders if he chooses to do nothing about it.

But that said, I don't think the issue has to be that dire. The Mach-e and F-150 are selling at "decent" prices compared to their blue oval ICE counterparts.

An Escape Platinum with the Technology Package which looks to put it in line with the Mach-e Premium SR eAWD is fairly close in price. $40,685 for the Mach-e vs $39,115 for the Escape.

You can mess with trims and that, going lower on the Mach-e to a Select or whatever. A quick look though and the above Escape and MME seem fairly aligned on features, at least the major items.

Then on the Lightning it's a fairly similar story in some trims like Lariat and Platinum. The XLT has a bigger gap if you go full base XLT (2.7L engine and 4x4 only basically with a 300a). This is where the tax credit did the most good for sure.

But I am sure if Farley wanted they could find a way to incentivize the XLT Lightning to bridge that gap and still find profit. If they aren't able to find profit on $60k trucks, EV or not, then this war is already over.

They just may have to do the unthinkable and drop some prices. But it's unlikely the EV market is going to disappear, so letting the market go to competitors to keep a little more profit now is just a repeat of what the big 3 did when Toyota and Honda brought low price and smaller margin vehicles to the market in the 80s and won hearts and minds.

 

[RLXXI]

One man who, as it would be, is the head of an automotive company...but this one man also thought EV adoption would be far greater...also a man in a month (if sales only drop, to say, 8%) that can come out and say "EV's are proving to be more resilient and didn't drop nearly as much as we thought! It's great!"

Like I said, just an opinion and it doesn't hold water.

 

[WXman]

He's likely correct. Truthfully, I would MUCH rather have a hybrid IF it were a PHEV. The standard hybrid integration such as Ford did with the Powerboost makes no sense to me. PHEV is the perfect truck. Imagine that you can drive solely on electricity for 150 miles anytime you want and charge it up at home.....but you can also take those long trips and not stop for hudreds of miles to refuel. It's the best of both worlds.

I like my Lightning a lot. But if Ford had a PHEV F-150 on dealer lots I would have never even looked at the Lightning.

 

[davehu]

One man who, as it would be, is the head of an automotive company...but this one man also thought EV adoption would be far greater...also a man in a month (if sales only drop, to say, 8%) that can come out and say "EV's are proving to be more resilient and didn't drop nearly as much as we thought! It's great!"

find a man who didn't think EV adoption would be far greater.. There are many reasons for the drop but I think it's safe to say that many (most) missed it. In my opinion the expectations were always extremely optimistic. Ford retooled the Lightning factory so it was capable of turning out 150k units per year. The government with the big three following predicted no gas cars would be sold within 10 years. All wildly optimistic but guided by government policy which is a recipe for failure

 

[Monkey]

Weird assessment... When all Platinum, most Lariats and many Flash Lightnings don't qualify? The Mach-E only qualifies via the commercial fleet lease credit. How is this really going to make a huge impact on Ford's EV sales? IMO, this is going to put a lot of pressure on Hyundai and KIA. I bet Tesla offers some incentives or price changes to compensate, but probably not for the full credit amount, Ford may do the same. And I think for many of us who have been EV owners for a while this isn't going to sway us back to ICE for future purchases.

Farley sends a lot of mixed signals about EVs. There are times it's like he sees things very clearly and then other times it's like he's completely out of touch. Very bi-polar, like he's trying to appease both customers and shareholders in a volatile political climate where both groups want different things...

 

[Monkey]

All wildly optimistic but guided by government policy which is a recipe for failure

Many decisions being made now within the auto industry have swung the opposite direction and are also government influenced and politically motivated. Still very much a recipe for failure.

 

[Henry Ford]

Many decisions being made now within the auto industry have swung the opposite direction and are also government influenced and politically motivated. Still very much a recipe for failure.

Right, the auto industry is necessarily a heavily regulated industry. Manufacturers have no choice but to make decisions based on government policy. Until recently that policy always trended toward safer and cleaner with free trade. The only decision was exactly how safe and how clean to plan future vehicles. Now there's...uh, uncertainty if I'm being generous.

 

[Maquis]

He's likely correct. Truthfully, I would MUCH rather have a hybrid IF it were a PHEV. The standard hybrid integration such as Ford did with the Powerboost makes no sense to me. PHEV is the perfect truck. Imagine that you can drive solely on electricity for 150 miles anytime you want and charge it up at home.....but you can also take those long trips and not stop for hudreds of miles to refuel. It's the best of both worlds.

I like my Lightning a lot. But if Ford had a PHEV F-150 on dealer lots I would have never even looked at the Lightning.

A PHEV F150 with 150 miles of electric range would be very expensive. 30 - 50 miles would be more realistic.

 

[sotek2345]

A PHEV F150 with 150 miles of electric range would be very expensive. 30 - 50 miles would be more realistic.

I was thinking closer to 15 miles electric range, with worse highway fuel economy like the Jeep 4xe's

 

[RLXXI]

Not just no, HELL NO on any type of hybrid. I don't want an electric vehicle with the complications/maintenance of an ice in the mix.

I may be biased due to a career as a mechanic, one or the other not both.

 

[WXman]

Many decisions being made now within the auto industry have swung the opposite direction and are also government influenced and politically motivated. Still very much a recipe for failure.

The recipe the current leadership is following is the one we've had for 115 years. No way this one will fail.

I would just like to see OPTIONS continue.

A PHEV F150 with 150 miles of electric range would be very expensive. 30 - 50 miles would be more realistic.

I was thinking closer to 15 miles electric range, with worse highway fuel economy like the Jeep 4xe's

Naa.. the Jeeps have 20 miles of EV range, capped by a very small amount of space for the battery pack. A full size pickup, with its much larger space between the frame rails, should easily achieve far greater EV only range, making it the perfect pickup.

 

[Vulnox]

Not just no, HELL NO on any type of hybrid. I don't want an electric vehicle with the complications/maintenance of an ice engine in the mix.

I may be biased due to a career as a mechanic, one or the other not both.

Exactly. We had a PHEV and I cannot fathom someone wanting both limited EV range and a smaller fuel tank on top of doubling the complexity of everything else and still having oil changes and the rest.

I liked our PHEV as training wheels to going to an EV, but I can't see going back. The only purpose I see to them might be what RAM is doing with the EREV RAM for those that pull travel trailers or utility trailers long distances.

But it's a bit of mental gymnastics where people say they get a PHEV because the 50 miles or so of range is enough for them to "basically never burn any gas!" but they insist on hanging onto it because they are afraid of the occasional road trip.

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