Just a few years ago, Ford was among many automakers that announced a flurry of massive investments into electrification, all at a time when many believed that EVs were the future. In fact, those planned investments reached a whopping $50 billion back in March 2022, with those funds slated to be spent by 2026 as The Blue Oval completed a massive transition toward electrification. Of course, things haven’t quite panned out as expected, and Ford has since scaled back those planned investments while posting massive losses in its dedicated EV unit, Model e – and Vice Chair John Lawler is now admitting those financial commitments were a mistake.
“So three, four years ago, the whole narrative in the industry was, I can remember it as, who’s going to invest the most money? Which I’ve talked about in the past, was a mistake,” Lawler said at the Bank of America Securities 2025 Automotive Summit. “It seemed like whoever invested the most was winning. So now that’s $10 billion, $20 billion, $30 billion, $40 billion, $50 billion. That was a mistake across the industry.”
As a result of weaker than expected demand for electric vehicles, Ford has shifted its focus in a major way. Rather than cranking out larger, heavier EVs, the automaker is now focused on what CEO Jim Farley considers to be the “sweet spot” of that market – smaller pickups and SUVs. FoMoCo also canceled plans to build two new three-row EV crossovers last August, and nixed development of its FNV4 (fully-networked vehicle) electrical architecture, as Ford Authority reported earlier this week.
Just over a year ago, Farley revealed that the company had tasked a skunkworks team to develop a low-cost EV platform set to underpin those future models, and recently added that this EV team is quite efficient in terms of how it spends its research and development funds, which bodes well for its quest to become more cost-competitive.
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I’m betting that Lawler will replace Farley before the year is out. He seems to be very bright and a straight shooter. Wall Street, and probably the Ford BOD, have run out of patience. The stock price is roughly equivalent to a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke.
Agree !
They destroyed the business and sales at Ford Europe with stupid decisions and now the workers who gave so much to Ford are the ones paying! The clown Jim, king of podcasts, doesn’t even open his mouth admitting he was wrong !!! Worse CEO ever
Farley is pretty bad, but Jacques Nasser is a contender for the worst CEO.
Really. They are just now figuring this out. Maybe they should have started with the CMax and Focus as all electric and everything else have a hybrid option. I think it’s time for a change also. Not everyone hates a boring car. I just want something to drive back and forth to work. I don’t need a Raptor or a Tremor to do that.
Toyota has been proven right once again
Farley is right, smaller is better. Unfortunately he didn’t take his own advice. Look at the Puma Gen-E and Capri in Europe. Why not in the USA?
Why do you have to over complicate the heck out of everything? Why do you need 500 or 700 volts and 500 or 700 hp??? That’s just crazy. And you wonder why the cost of a new f150 lightning started at 26000 which is why everyone wanted one but it was impossible to get without waiting a year for delivery??? Quickly went through the roof to 90000??? By the time you could actually order one and get it delivered anytime soon it was outrageously too expensive. I wonder why everyone quickly lost interest! I tried to get one when they were cheap but it was impossible and now way too expensive. I would have definitely bought a maverick all electric but they never came out. In 1912 the baker electric on 6 volt deep cycle batteries could run 70 miles per hour???? And all you need is an old school battery charger. You mean to tell me that we can’t figure this out today?? Come on! Can you not put on a generator driven by the wheels that would dramatically increase the range?? We don’t need a giant pickup with 700hp that can tow a gillion pounds and only get a hundred miles if that. We’ll use our gas truck for that. Give us a small pickup like the Maverick much lower voltage maybe old school not lithium??? With on board generators with at least 500 mile range. Tow a boat or small camper or just go to work in. CHEAP!! That will make everyone want one!!!and keep it CHEAP!! Don’t over complicate it. Don’t jack the price up!!! Don’t let the greedy dealerships mark them up outrageously like they have been doing to everything. And build some quality vehicles for a change. It’s like you don’t want them to last forcing us to have to buy another vehicle. Keep doing this and everyone will go for Toyota and stop buying ford.
So lighting pro started at 40k in 2022. Maverick was a fwd hybrid starting at 20k about the same time. Had to order at this time due to pandemic auto supply because they wanted to prioritize manufacturing models that had demand, pretty smart actually.
Pretty affordable however lower range. More Range= more $ for bigger battery. Range extender hybrid is what Dodge and most other automakers are doing. Li Ion is what is mostly used because nimh is closest competitor (see first gen Toyota Prius, Honda Insight and I think most hybrids up to maybe mid 2010’s). Nimh, nizn, and other chemistries are about half the power density of li-ion. Of course there are newer chemistry such as na-ion and others that they are still working on.
Maybe they jumped the gun with the EV investment but they learned a lot about how to make Bev’s work and what people “want” vs what they buy. Plus, Tesla was taking a lot of market share from standard automakers. It’s a good thing to have in your back pocket because if gas goes to $5/gallon
Senior Management made all those decisions including the ones to kill the Fusion and the Edge. Poor decisions cost Ford a foothold in those segments. Two great products that everyone loved. Good company, bad decisions. Yeah, I’m thinking it’s time for some new leadership
Let’s see – Ford Edge Hybrid, No: Hybrid Explorer retail, Not available; Hybrid Navigator or Expedition, not yet; Ranger Hybrid, sure, in Australia, but not in NA. Talk about Toyota eating your lunch with hybrids across their product offering. Mr Farley, your STILL playing catchup. Time to bring on Lawler
Let’s face it, the politicians (and tree huggers?) pushed EVs onto the manufacturers. Almost all of them drank the Kool Aid except Toyota. This should have been a ‘walk before you run’ project but too many people got over excited about it.
Totally agree. There was no planning for adequate charging facilities and the stupid threats of mandates from the Biden bunch scared many of the manufacturers like Ford. Even worse the decision to drop Fusion and Edge due to their boring ? nature made no sense. I ordered a 22 Edge ST and really like it. Also had a 2010 Fusion. The dumb decision to close US assembly plants will backfire especially on the Nautilus . I would buy a hybrid Thunderbird if they want a non boring car
At least Ford was smart enough to cover all 3 modes: gas, electric, and hybrid ( just bought the wife a blue 2025 Escape Platinum Hybrid – we love it, and 46 average mpgs).
But boy did Farley and Barra overshoot the EV thing. All-time terrible leadership.