Ford Motor believes prioritizing smaller vehicles will help the company on its path to EV profitability.
The new plan is an "insurance policy" for the automaker to be able to expand its growingly popular hybrid models and create more affordable EVs that it believes will deliver a more capital-efficient, profitable electric vehicle business for the company and investors, according to Marin Gjaja, Ford's chief operating officer for its Model e EV unit.
Instead of the three-row SUV or large pickup, the company's first new EV is expected to be a commercial van in 2026, followed the next year by a midsized pickup and then the T3 full-size pickup., which includes vans and large Super Duty trucks, has been a standout for the company and offset billions of dollars in EV losses."We believe smaller, more affordable vehicles are the way to go for EV in volume.
Investors and Wall Street analysts have largely supported the EV changes, most recently sending shares up about 2.3% since the announcement earlier this week, despite the expected costs. A Ford F-150 Lariat PowerBoost hybrid pickup truck is displayed for sale at a Ford dealership on August 21, 2024 in Glendale, California."What we saw in '21 and '22 was a temporary market spike where the demand for EVs really took off," Gjaja told CNBC during an interview earlier this year. "It's still growing but not nearly at the rate we thought it might have in '21, '22.
GM's current lineup includes three all-electric large pickup trucks, a Hummer SUV, two recently launched Chevrolet crossovers and a luxury Cadillac crossover and $300,000 Celestiq car. Several more crossover models and an all-electricfor its EVs to be profitable on a production, or contribution-margin basis, once it reaches output of 200,000 units by the fourth quarter.