Ford bullish on EVs despite losses, production challenges

Ford Motor Co. may be losing money on every electric vehicle it sells, and its Lincoln luxury brand may be rethinking its EV strategy, but the automaker is still forging ahead with ambitious growth plans.

Ford recently warned that it will lose about $4.5 billion more than expected this year on its EV business unit, called Model e. The company still plans to reach an annual build rate of 400,000 EVs, but that timeline is now delayed.

It will happen some time in 2024 instead of this year, Ford now says. Also on indefinite delay is its 2 million EV production goal beyond 2026.

Crucially, though, Ford says it still expects to make 8 percent margins on EVs in 2026. Key to that goal is a second-generation EV platform that will underpin a full-size pickup built at Blue Oval City in Tennessee and a three-row crossover built in Canada.

CEO Jim Farley has said the next-generation products will be less complex to assemble than Ford's current EVs and more upgradeable with software that can add to profit margins through subscription services.

Current EVs — the F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach-E and E-Transit — are expected to play key roles, and Ford insists that demand remains strong even as inventories rise along with production.

"While the path to sustainable profitability may not look quite the same as we previously thought, we're confident in our ability to deliver through a more efficient product design, cost efficiencies and growth in software and services, which will continue to accelerate," Farley said on Ford's second-quarter earnings call in July.

"As we've demonstrated over the last several years, we will continue to be laser focused on disciplined capital allocation and ultimately delivering a leading and profitable EV footprint that provides us with the flexibility to scale based on customer demand."