'We’re not shoving anything down anyone’s throat,' Ford exec says about EVs

[mbsieg]

https://www.thestreet.com/electric-vehicles/ford-exec-says-about-evs#:~:text=Despite%20what%20many%20detractors%20would,Ford%20said%20during%20the%20event.

Running a car company is already hard, but Ford (F) Executive Chairman Bill Ford says that the current political landscape is making it hard to balance Ford's offerings of electric, internal combustion and hybrid-electric vehicles. Speaking to journalist Carol Cain at a recent Detroit Free Press event, the Ford executive said that the Blue Oval expects the move to electrification to have its hurdles, but unclear policy decisions by made it hard to envision a clear path for the industry at large.
“Our planning timeframe as a company is a lot longer than election cycles,” Ford said. “The problem is when we’re whipsawed back and forth… we can’t turn on a dime.”

Ford calls these policy issues political 'hurricanes,' as the stormy weather impedes on the ability of not only his car company, but also the competition's ability to determine what products are right to pursue.

 

[FrancSevin]

The dynamics expressed here explains why Fascism never works. Not ever.

The government is simply incapable of attempting capitalism which, in a free society, truly works.

Fascism cannot meet the needs of the people and also, at the same time, the needs if the government.

Over regulation is exactly the same as fascism. And we certainly have that now.

 

[Melensdad]

Over regulation is exactly the same as fascism. And we certainly have that now.

This is an accurate assessment.

We have government over regulation, often with private industry cheering on regulations that can strangle their competitors or create barriers entering a market. That is actual fascism. And GM gleefully worked with government officials to usher in EVs. Facebook/YouTube/Twitter (pre-Musk) gleefully joined the chorus of fascists by working with Homeland Security/et al regarding silencing dissent.

 

[redsqwrl]

Ford (the company) has consistantly gone on record asking for consistant regulation. I have seen presentations (from fomoco) on fuel effciency stating what can be done. But the standards need to be applied and enforced in a fair manner.

In an unrealted rant. I went to the local farm supply store and counted three empty nonrecyclable, boxed plastic jugs of def fluid blowing around in the parking lot. When the gov steps in, stupidity floats up.

 

[bczoom]

Ford just reported a massive loss on every electric vehicle it sold

Ford’s electric vehicle unit reported that losses soared in the first quarter to $1.3 billion, or $132,000 for each of the 10,000 vehicles it sold in the first three months of the year, helping to drag down earnings for the company overall.

finance.yahoo.com

Damn.
They lost $132,000 for each electric vehicle it sold

An excerpt from the article:

Ford’s electric vehicle unit reported that losses soared in the first quarter to $1.3 billion, or $132,000 for each of the 10,000 vehicles it sold in the first three months of the year, helping to drag down earnings for the company overall.

Ford, like most automakers, has announced plans to shift from traditional gas-powered vehicles to EVs in coming years. But it is the only traditional automaker to break out results of its retail EV sales. And the results it reported Wednesday show another sign of the profit pressures on the EV business at Ford and other automakers.

The EV unit, which Ford calls Model e, sold 10,000 vehicles in the quarter, down 20% from the number it sold a year earlier. And its revenue plunged 84% to about $100 million, which Ford attributed mostly to price cuts for EVs across the industry. That resulted in the $1.3 billion loss before interest and taxes (EBIT), and the massive per-vehicle loss in the Model e unit.

The losses go far beyond the cost of building and selling those 10,000 cars, according to Ford. Instead the losses include hundreds of millions being spent on research and development of the next generation of EVs for Ford. Those investments are years away from paying off.

And that means this is not the end of the losses in the unit - Ford said it expects Model e will have EBIT losses of $5 billion for the full year.

 

[Melensdad]

Ford just reported a massive loss on every electric vehicle it sold

Ford’s electric vehicle unit reported that losses soared in the first quarter to $1.3 billion, or $132,000 for each of the 10,000 vehicles it sold in the first three months of the year, helping to drag down earnings for the company overall.

finance.yahoo.com

Damn.
They lost $132,000 for each electric vehicle it sold

How much did Tesla 'lose' on the sale of its first vehicle? It 100th vehicle?

It takes time to build sales up to the point of covering investment and costs. A lot of the doom & gloom articles I see are based on faulty math. Invest $1-Billion Dollars in a plant, sell 1000 vehicles at $75,000 each and you will "lose" a lot of money. But ramp up the production as the sales progress and each vehicle loses less. Until each vehicles approaches a recoupment cost of investment and eventually a profit.

All that said, I blame the politicians for the too-fast push to EVs that is costing these companies to respond to GOVERNMENT POLICY instead of MARKET DEMAND

Toyota is the current smart player. They said, HYBRIDS made more sense. They are correct. But they also have a more WORLD focus. Can a Hybrid operate in the jungle of South America? The remote regions of Indonesia? Sub-saharan Africa? Rural America or Canada? YES! Try that with an EV. So Toyota looked at WORLD use. Our "one size fits all" policies coming out of Washington simply don't work in many areas, at least not without TRILLIONS of dollars of investment that are bankrupting nations and companies. Go figure.

 

[bczoom]

Agreed on the initial investment costs but it also said sales are dropping to the tune of 20% compared to the prior year.

 

[Melensdad]

Agreed on the initial investment costs but it also said sales are dropping to the tune of 20% compared to the prior year.

Because of the 'one size fits all' government mandates. It all comes to that point.

We buy cars one time every several years.

So drop $70K on a car last year, and you are not in the market for a new one for 4, 6, or maybe 10 years.

Tesla got all the customers locked in who are early adopters. Tesla then got a lot of 'repeat' customers and a lot of new customers as EVs gained more acceptance. But the market for EVs started to slow simply because demand was mostly fulfilled by Tesla. Established car makers entered the field, which then became very crowded very quickly. The EV 'pie' was still growing, but at a much lower rate of growth, and instead of being 1 major EV producer, now there are 10+ established brands with EV offerings.

More supply fighting for a market that is still growing but at an ever-slowing rate.

And in an economy that is clearly showing strong signs of "stagflation" people who can't pay cash are less inclined to take risks.

 

[mbsieg]

Agreed on the initial investment costs but it also said sales are dropping to the tune of 20% compared to the prior year.

I'm very curious where the article got its numbers. Here are the numbers from Ford.

Strong Start for Ford Electric Vehicle Sales

Across Ford electric vehicles, sales started the year strong, up 86 percent.

Ford sold 20,223 EVs in Q1, making Ford America’s second best-selling EV brand behind Tesla for the quarter. Mustang Mach-E posted strong Q1 sales of 9,589 SUVs – up 77 percent over a year ago.

America’s best-selling electric truck, the F-150 Lightning, had sales of 7,743 trucks, up 80 percent.

The Ford E-Transit was America’s best-selling electric van on sales of 2,891 – up 148 percent over Q1 last year. It was the best-ever sales quarter for E-Transit since it went on sale in 2022.

https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2024/04/03/ford-hybrids--evs--transit-set-records--q1-sales-top-industry--u.html

 

[FrancSevin]

The Ford E-Transit was America’s best-selling electric van on sales of 2,891 – up 148 percent over Q1 last year. It was the best-ever sales quarter for E-Transit since it went on sale in 2022.

2,891?

Just for a comparison, The Wentzville GM plant produces about 1,000IC powered vehicles per day. Of this, 300 to 400 vans a day

Not a put down, just a reality gauge.

 

[mbsieg]

The Ford E-Transit was America’s best-selling electric van on sales of 2,891 – up 148 percent over Q1 last year. It was the best-ever sales quarter for E-Transit since it went on sale in 2022.

2,891?

Just for a comparison, The Wentzville GM plant produces about 1,000IC powered vehicles per day. Of this, 300 to 400 vans a day

Not a put down, just a reality gauge.

In my opinion, the e-transits are a very niche market vehicle low range. And the transits in general have a very poor reputation.

 

[redsqwrl]

Vehicles delivered and vehicles sold.

Dealer owned inventory likely

 

[mbsieg]

Vehicles delivered and vehicles sold.

Dealer owned inventory likely

I doubt very highly they can consider that a sold vehicle. It's not titled. I've seen numerous other places with sales numbers like Ford. I have not seen any numbers close to what Yahoo posted. It goes back to the FUD program fear, uncertainty disinformation. On yahoo's behalf.

 

[FrancSevin]

In my opinion, the e-transits are a very niche market vehicle low range. And the transits in general have a very poor reputation.

As a matter of good business practices, most automakers are not banking their futures on "niche vehicles."
However, the Gubmit has other plans

 

[mbsieg]

Here's the first quarter 2024 and also Ford for April. I think that wonderful news story is a little bit of FUD.