Automaker Loses Billions On EVs In 2023
As electric vehicles continue to be pushed onto an unwilling nation, it is becoming increasingly clear that the pricey saviors of the planet may not be the panacea they were believed to be. There have been numerous hiccups with the vehicles, including a lack of charging infrastructure, range and battery issues, high costs for repairs and maintenance, and availability of the vehicles due to supply-chain constraints.
Naturally, that hasn’t stopped Joe Biden and the rest of the green energy purveyors from pushing forward with a technology that most people don’t want. With the lack of interest from buyers comes crushing financial losses for manufacturers. One American manufacturer recently revealed losses in the billions for their line of electric vehicles.
Ford Motor Company lost billions of dollars on its EV product line last year, it revealed recently. The automaker lost $4.7 billion in 2023, topping the mid-year projection of $4.5 billion. There are various reasons for the losses, but the company pointed to “an extremely competitive pricing environment” as the major factor for the staggering losses.
To put the losses into context, Ford sold a reported 72,608 electric vehicles last year. When you crunch the numbers, it shows a loss of around $65,000 on each car it sold. That simply isn’t a sustainable business model. Further, the company is already projecting up to a $5.5 billion loss for 2024, which could well be much higher considering it is an election year.
John Lawler, Ford’s CFO, attempted to paint a rosier picture than reality when he said: “The customer insights we’re getting by being an early mover in electric pickups, SUVs and commercial vehicles are invaluable – especially as we’re developing next generation EVs that are going to surprise customers and be profitable within a year of launch. EVs are here to stay, customer adoption is growing.” While the numbers paint a different picture, Ford is still committed to the failing segment.
This came after Ford slashed production of their flagship vehicle, the F-150 Lightning pickup, due to flagging demand. Despite attempting to gin up interest by having Joe Biden test drive one in 2021, the extremely costly trucks have not taken off as Ford had hoped. It is a stunning setback for Biden, as his administration had been pushing a plan to have 50% of all new vehicle sales be electric by 2030, a scant six years away.
Watch Biden give the Ford Lightning a test drive here:
General Motors has also dialed back production and tempered expectations, posting a $1.7 billion loss on electric vehicles in just the fourth quarter of 2023. Ford went on to state: “We said yesterday that we will launch our second-generation EVs when they can be profitable and deliver the kind of returns we want, and we will build a stand-alone profitable EV business. Meantime, we’re improving the contribution margin of our first-generation EVs.”
Companies cannot absorb billion-dollar losses forever. Electric vehicles must become profitable to automakers sooner rather than later. However, until charging stations are built, raw materials are sourced domestically, quality problems can be ironed out, and performance issues improve, the market for costly, unreliable electric vehicles will likely stay soft, and automakers will continue to bleed cash.Source: Theamericantribune