Maverick EV reportedly on hold until early next decade [⚠️ LOCKED DUE TO POLITICS]

[Decayed]

The reason they sold off their EVs was because of the costs associated with repairing body damage due to their rideshare agreement with Uber not because of mechanical maintenance costs.

Yeah I wondered about that, but why didn't they simply terminate the rideshare agreement? An EV is theoretically mechanically simpler than an ICE vehicle. But somebody somewhere must have crunched the numbers and came up short.

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[NextTruck]

good business move - it already gets 45mpg, nobody needs a Mav EV.

The people north of Richmond decide what you need!

 

[CurtisB]

Hhhuuummmmmm! $60,000 EV /20= $3k = I want 4 of those Hybrids.

The main point is that it is more expensive to build an electric vehicle.

 

[NextTruck]

Totally understandable given current trends of most automakers scaling back their EV production.

Totally from a business perspective this is a smart move given recent market trends and uncertainty of the economy.

The "business perspective" will rectify itself when the 3 letter agencies decide to subsidize it (EV's, battery plants, charging stations, buyer rebates) even more. They have been dumping money here and abroad into this movement but market forces have proved to be stronger up to now. Stay tuned........

 

[LSchicago]

They are losing A LOT of money on every EV sold so that stands to reason you would not develop more.

This is also the reason Ford split into two pieces, Ford Blue is hybrid, gas, diesel and Ford E is battery electric. Other companies that did not do this can/will suffer much more significant financial harm when/if EVs continue to lose money.

Investors saw the rise in Tesla stock and essentially demanded that Ford get in the EV game, that hybrids were not enough. This happened to pretty much every auto maker. Volvo was crazy and/or smart enough to split Polestar even more than Ford split Ford E - they have their own branding.

Everyone is now taking a bath as they figure out you can't just duplicate what Tesla achieved the prior 15 years. And while the USA has driving dynamics very different from Europe and Asia, it's not just the USA. EV demand is tanking globally for a myriad of reasons.

The ONLY reason Ford is losing money on every EV is high start up costs. Building out all the assembly plants and battery plants is ridiculously expensive. They will recoup those costs, and profit nicely from EV's. Ford has said to succeed in EV's they need entry level options. Those will sell in high volume, and lower cost per unit. Once people buy an entry level EV, it is easy to upsell them a larger, nicer unit 3-5 years later.

 

[K5Blazer]

I was absolutely correct last year when I repeatedly stated in another thread about EV mavericks coming in the next few years:

”NEVER GONNA HAPPEN”

Of course all those who argued with me will never admit that I was right..

 

[OleFordGuy]

That might be the concept but I don’t know seems that would be a Hard Sell. People have been use to all the nice stuff the tech etc etc for years and for them to give that up for a cheap bare basic EV I think many buyers will turn their nose up and walk away, just my thoughts

 

[K5Blazer]

Oh, btw, Rivian may be stopping current production.
Seems losing 30K on every vehicle they’ve sold is finally catching up to them.

 

[CurtisB]

Why #1 when probably less than 5% of ICE/HEV achieve a range of 600 miles or more? Seems like you'd be holding it a higher standard with #3 in place.

I'm simply stating what it takes for electric cars to not only complete, but attract the consumer to be motivated to buy. It's not perfect science, it's just what it will take. I apologize for not being scientifically accurate in my statement. I'm just trying to have a conversation. Most of us in here are trying to do the same.

 

[Gonzo chris]

They are losing A LOT of money on every EV sold so that stands to reason you would not develop more.

This is also the reason Ford split into two pieces, Ford Blue is hybrid, gas, diesel and Ford E is battery electric. Other companies that did not do this can/will suffer much more significant financial harm when/if EVs continue to lose money.

Investors saw the rise in Tesla stock and essentially demanded that Ford get in the EV game, that hybrids were not enough. This happened to pretty much every auto maker. Volvo was crazy and/or smart enough to split Polestar even more than Ford split Ford E - they have their own branding.

Everyone is now taking a bath as they figure out you can't just duplicate what Tesla achieved the prior 15 years. And while the USA has driving dynamics very different from Europe and Asia, it's not just the USA. EV demand is tanking globally for a myriad of reasons.

Not totally true. They're losing money when you divide the current investment in future production by the models sold currently. The reality is though the United States might be a slightly different market, but most of the rest of the world is going EVS so they should not abandon it all together. The reason why it might not work business wise for a Maverick is simply the price. Batteries are just too expensive to keep the cost down. I think it would be a good vehicle for an EV though, assuming that you're not really buying it to tow things that is.

 

[Gonzo chris]

Not unexpected giving him how they're selling every Maverick they can currently make but I was sort of hoping one would be available when I was ready to likely get a maverick. I would at least like to see a PHEV I wouldn't need a lot of battery only range as I live close to work. The Maverick would actually be a great EV truck as long as you're not buying it to do heavy duty truck stuff like towing and I doubt most people are. It's pretty small and relatively light so that would help range. Would be a little rocket. The main thing holding it back I think is battery cost though it would still be too expensive. Ford is adopting Tesla's charging standard and with other CCS chargers in the United States for the vast majority of people, the tech is already there for their needs. If you live in a real rural area and you can't charge at home and you drive a long distance then no. But for most people it's fun. Of course, solid state batteries that are lighter and more powerful would be welcome.

 

[710-oil-614]

I'm just trying to have a conversation. Most of us in here are trying to do the same.

LOL, are you though? Because i simply asked a question about your original comment and you've become defensive and snarky.

If that is your idea of a conversation...whew.

 

[STIGZZZ]

Not in this lifetime.....Not for me IMHO total BS to each there own I for one DIDN'T drink the Cool aid and buy into all the craziness...

 

[colinl]

The ONLY reason Ford is losing money on every EV is high start up costs. Building out all the assembly plants and battery plants is ridiculously expensive. They will recoup those costs, and profit nicely from EV's. Ford has said to succeed in EV's they need entry level options. Those will sell in high volume, and lower cost per unit. Once people buy an entry level EV, it is easy to upsell them a larger, nicer unit 3-5 years later.

start up on any vehicle is expensive, and yes obviously it's worse for BEVs when a company hasn't previously offered a BEV. but keying on 'only' - which I think is fair because you did bold capslock the word - that opinion is not backed up by facts. read ford's SEC 10K filing for FY23 published 2/7/24 and get back to me.
https://shareholder.ford.com/Investors/financials/default.aspx#sec-filings

they are betting on Ford+ to increase revenue for Ford e as well as Ford Blue. they actually say in the filings that they have to commit to supplies for EVs on long-term contracts that can cause profitability concerns in the future if demand falls or the supply market falls in price. the latter is definitely possible since we heard in 2023 that the USA may have a huge supply of lithium, and the former is happening right now- lowered EV demand is the reason for this thread.

Ford+ is software and services for vehicles. when they first started talking about Ford+ in 2021, everything was about enabling new services and capabilities for electric vehicles, but today you can in fact buy Ford BlueCruise on non-BEV vehicles (like a high trim level F150), and it's a monthly or annual subscription. they talk about telematics for Fleet management and more in the presentation from late last year which is linked on this page, 'capital markets transcript': https://ford-motor-company-capital-markets-2023.videoshowcase.net/
(oh. I guess the forum will also let me attach the PDF, so I will.)

I'm positive that someone is going to react to this post foaming at the mouth saying they won't pay a subscription for features a vehicle should have. We pay for Netflix, Amazon Prime, and a lot of other things - why wouldn't someone pay for the right subscription on a car?

I think Ford isn't stupid, and the capabilities we get right now in FordPass for free have to continue to be free for some amount of time - maybe forever, but I wouldn't bet on that - and then they will layer in more features at a cost. Besides BlueCruise, I can't quickly think of anything I find missing from my Maverick that I'd be interested in paying a subscription to have, but I am sure Ford has spent a lot of time thinking about that and starting to build those capabilities. I am also sure if you talk about something too much before you're ready to sell it, you are giving your competitors time to react and you're supressing your own current model/feature sales as some people will delay buying to wait for a better feature.

 

[Gonzo chris]

Wait .... What? Are you sure you were ever part of the EV cult?

Lol, backhanded jokes aside. Nice post, highlighting that there are use cases for EV but also use cases where it is wildly unaffordable. Being objective while also being an owner of one.

I see cults on both sides. EVs are great/ better at some use cases , worse at others. Some claim they're better at everything others get all tinfoil hat against them

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