Ford on Monday said it is pulling back on its electric vehicle plans, a move that will result in a $19.5 billion charge against its earnings to be taken mostly in the current quarter.
But excluding that charge, the company said this should actually be a fairly good quarter due to strong sales of its traditional gasoline-powered trucks and SUVs. It raised its operating profit target for the year to $7 billion.
But the pullback on its EV plans also means its flagship electric vehicle, the F150 Lightning, will be on hold indefinitely. Ford said the next generation of the F150 will have a 700-mile range and improved heavy-duty towing. It announced Monday that it had halted production of its original F150 Lightning model this month. But it did not give any details on when production of the new model would begin.
Demand for electric vehicles surged through the summer and September due to the scheduled expiration of a $7,500 US tax credit for EV buyers. Ford’s EV sales jumped 30% in the third quarter, compared to a year earlier, the company said in October. But those sales only came to 30,600 vehicles, or just less than 6% of its total US sales. While the company has not reported fourth-quarter EV sales, outside estimates are that all US EV sales fell sharply.
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