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.
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.
