With U.S. electric vehicle sales starting to slow, Ford Motor Co. says it will delay rolling out new electric pickup trucks and a new large electric SUV as it adds gas-electric hybrids to its model lineup.
The Dearborn, Michigan, company said in a Thursday statement that it was delaying the launch of a new three-row electric SUV to 2027 from 2025, to take advantage of improving battery technology and “allow for the consumer market for three-row EVs to further develop.”
And it said a much ballyhooed new electric pickup, its next generation F-Series to be built at a new factory in Tennessee, will be delayed by a year until 2026, after previously saying it would be released by the end of 2025.
The retreat comes as U.S. electric vehicle sales growth slowed to 2.7% in the first quarter of the year, far below the 47% increase that fueled record sales and a 7.6% market share last year. Sales of new vehicles overall grew nearly 5%, and the EV market share declined to 7.1%.
Hybrid sales, however, grew 45% from January through March, while plug-in hybrids, which can go a short distance on battery power before a gas-electric system kicks in, grew 34% according to Motorintelligence.com.
“As the No. 2 EV brand in the U.S. for the past two years, we are committed to scaling a profitable EV business, using capital wisely and bringing to market the right gas, hybrid and fully electric vehicles at the right time,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement.
The company said it was still working “to build a full EV line-up,” and added it would offer hybrid versions across its lineup of gas-powered vehicles by the end of the decade. While it deprioritizes its larger electric vehicles, the company has also made plans to release three smaller EVs starting at $25,000.
Sales of Ford’s electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles increased by 86% and 42%, respectively, in the first quarter compared to the year prior, Ford reported. Yet warning signs are also increasing in the EV market.
EV makers have struggled in recent quarters, including Elon Musk’s Tesla, which on Tuesday reported its first year-over-year quarterly sales decline. Chinese electric carmakers have also seen a decline in sales compared to the previous quarter, possibly due to a slowdown during the weeklong Chinese New Year celebrations.
Meanwhile, consumers strapped for cash are reconsidering buying expensive EVs and looking to alternatives. Sales of hybrid vehicles in the U.S., for instance, grew five times faster in February than sales of pure EVs, according to Morgan Stanley. Gas-powered vehicles also seem more attractive with the U.S. Energy Information Administration expecting gas prices to fall in 2024 and 2025.
Farley had previously put a lot of hope in Ford’s lineup of electric vehicles led by its electric truck, the F-150 Lightning, which debuted in 2022. But last month the company announced it would scale back on production and lay off workers that were producing the truck at its plant in Dearborn, Michigan, following lackluster sales last year.
Although Ford once planned to produce 150,000 of the F-150 Lightning per year, it sold just 24,000 last year.
Ford also said it “expects to offer” hybrid versions of all its gasoline passenger vehicles by the end of the decade in North America.
Industry analysts say most early technology adopters and people who want to cut emissions have already purchased EVs. Automakers now have to convince skeptical mainstream buyers to go electric, but those customers fear limited range and a lack of charging stations.
Ford expects pretax losses for its electric vehicle unit to widen from $4.7 billion last year to a range of $5 billion to $5.5 billion this year. But it foresees commercial vehicles making $8 billion to $9 billion, up from $7.2 billion last year. Gasoline powered vehicles and hybrids are expected to make $7 billion to $7.5 billion, about even with last year.
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