Ford Losses Continue to Mount with Billions Expected in 2025
Ford losses in the electric vehicle sector are set to worsen in 2025, with the company projecting financial setbacks of up to $5.5 billion. In 2024, Ford already recorded a $5.1 billion deficit linked to its clean energy vehicle operations. The persistent financial strain stems from the high production costs of electric vehicles, primarily due to expensive battery technology. Despite Tesla's struggles to achieve profitability until 2020, General Motors recently reported that it has begun turning a profit on EVs. Meanwhile, Ford's Model E division, responsible for its zero-emission lineup, has faced consecutive losses and is preparing for yet another challenging year.
Ford Losses in the EV Market
Ford's financial report for 2024 revealed an annual loss of $5.1 billion in earnings before interest and taxes. Looking ahead, the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker expects its Ford losses to climb even higher in 2025, ranging between $5 billion and $5.5 billion. Despite the bleak outlook, the company remains optimistic, pointing to its continued investments in electric vehicle development. Ford also reported $1.4 billion in cost reductions last year within its Model E division, a step toward improving financial efficiency.
Although Ford losses in the EV segment remain substantial, the company's electric vehicle sales grew by 34.8% in the U.S. last year, with 97,865 new units sold. Meanwhile, hybrid models saw a 40.1% increase, reaching 187,426 units. However, gasoline-powered vehicles still accounted for the bulk of Ford's total sales, with 1,793,541 units sold, reflecting a modest 0.2% increase over 2023.
Electric Trucks Face Major Challenges
For the 47th consecutive year, the Ford F-Series remained the best-selling truck in the U.S. However, company executives acknowledged that the F-150 Lightning, Ford's flagship electric truck, faces considerable obstacles. During the 2024 fiscal conference call, CEO Jim Farley admitted that electric trucks struggle with towing due to their large and heavy battery packs. He also noted that EVs have worse aerodynamics and weigh significantly more than their gasoline counterparts, requiring even larger and costlier batteries to achieve competitive range figures.
With these challenges in mind, Ford has chosen to delay its next-generation electric midsize pickup truck by 18 months, pushing its expected launch to late 2027.
Future EV Strategy and Cancellations
In February 2024, Farley revealed that Ford had formed a 'skunkworks team' to develop a low-cost EV platform aimed at competing with Tesla and affordable Chinese electric vehicles. Additionally, Ford engineers are working on extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) that use a small gas engine as a generator to charge the battery. Similar to the Mazda MX-30 R-EV, these models won't rely on the internal combustion engine for direct propulsion. Instead, electric motors will power the wheels, offering a hybrid-like range extension without traditional mechanical connections.
Meanwhile, Ford losses continued to pile up as the company abandoned its three-row electric SUV project for 2024, citing financial infeasibility. This decision cost the automaker a staggering $1.9 billion. Initially planned for release in 2024, then pushed back to 2027, the large SUV was ultimately canceled due to unfavorable market conditions.
While Ford has discontinued some projects, it still offers large electric SUVs in Europe, such as the Explorer EV, though this model is distinct from the gasoline-powered Explorer sold globally. The Explorer EV is essentially a rebadged Volkswagen ID.4, while the new Ford Capri shares its platform with the Volkswagen ID.5.
Looking ahead, Ford plans to utilize multi-energy vehicle platforms capable of supporting both combustion engines and electric drivetrains. This strategy will allow the automaker to reduce Ford losses while adapting to evolving market trends and consumer demands.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
21 minutes ago
- Arab News
Trump says Elon Musk could face ‘serious consequences' if he backs Democratic candidates
BRIDGEWATER, N.J.: President Donald Trump is not backing off his battle with Elon Musk, saying Saturday that he has no desire to repair their relationship and warning that his former ally and campaign benefactor could face 'serious consequences' if he tries to help Democrats in upcoming elections. Trump told NBC's Kristen Welker in a phone interview that he has no plans to make up with Musk. Asked specifically if he thought his relationship with the mega-billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX is over, Trump responded, 'I would assume so, yeah.' 'I'm too busy doing other things,' Trump continued. 'You know, I won an election in a landslide. I gave him a lot of breaks, long before this happened, I gave him breaks in my first administration, and saved his life in my first administration, I have no intention of speaking to him.' The president also issued a warning amid chatter that Musk could back Democratic lawmakers and candidates in the 2026 midterm elections. 'If he does, he'll have to pay the consequences for that,' Trump told NBC, though he declined to share what those consequences would be. Musk's businesses have many lucrative federal contracts. The president's latest comments suggest Musk is moving from close ally to a potential new target for Trump, who has aggressively wielded the powers of his office to crack down on critics and punish perceived enemies. As a major government contractor, Musk's businesses could be particularly vulnerable to retribution. Trump has already threatened to cut Musk's contracts, calling it an easy way to save money. The dramatic rupture between the president and the world's richest man began this week with Musk's public criticism of Trump's 'big beautiful bill' pending on Capitol Hill. Musk has warned that the bill will increase the federal deficit and called it a 'disgusting abomination.' Trump criticized Musk in the Oval Office, and before long, he and Musk began trading bitterly personal attacks on social media, sending the White House and GOP congressional leaders scrambling to assess the fallout. As the back-and-forth intensified, Musk suggested Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president's association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Musk appeared by Saturday morning to have deleted his posts about Epstein. Vice President JD Vance in an interview tried to downplay the feud. He said Musk was making a 'huge mistake' going after Trump, but called him an 'emotional guy' getting frustrated. 'I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear,' Vance said. Vance called Musk an 'incredible entrepreneur,' and said that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which sought to cut government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was 'really good.' Vance made the comments in an interview with ' manosphere' comedian Theo Von, who last month joked about snorting drugs off a mixed-race baby and the sexuality of men in the US Navy when he opened for Trump at a military base in Qatar. The Vance interview was taped Thursday as Musk's posts were unfurling on X, the social media network the billionaire owns. During the interview, Von showed the vice president Musk's claim that Trump's administration hasn't released all the records related to Epstein because Trump is mentioned in them. Vance responded to that, saying, 'Absolutely not. Donald Trump didn't do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein.' 'This stuff is just not helpful,' Vance said in response to another post shared by Musk calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vance. 'It's totally insane. The president is doing a good job.' Vance also defended the bill that has drawn Musk's ire, and said its central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Trump's first term. The bill would slash spending and taxes but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by $2.4 trillion over the decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. 'It's a good bill,' Vance said. 'It's not a perfect bill.' The interview was taped in Nashville at a restaurant owned by musician Kid Rock, a Trump ally.
Asharq Al-Awsat
6 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Vance Says Musk Making ‘Huge Mistake' in Going After Trump but Also Tries to Downplay Attacks
Vice President JD Vance said Elon Musk was making a "huge mistake" going after President Donald Trump in a storm of bitter and inflammatory social media posts after a falling out between the two men. But the vice president, in an interview released Friday after the very public blow up between the world's richest man and arguably the world's most powerful, also tried to downplay Musk's blistering attacks as an "emotional guy" who got frustrated. "I hope that eventually Elon comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear," Vance said. Vance's comments come as other Republicans in recent days have urged the two men, who months ago were close allies spending significant time together, to mend fences. Musk's torrent of social media posts attacking Trump came as the president portrayed him as disgruntled and "CRAZY" and threatened to cut the government contracts held by his businesses. Musk, who runs electric vehicle maker Tesla, internet company Starlink and rocket company SpaceX, lambasted Trump's centerpiece tax cuts and spending bill but also suggested Trump should be impeached and claimed without evidence that the government was concealing information about the president's association with infamous pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. "Look, it happens to everybody," Vance said in the interview. "I've flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours." Vance made the comments in an interview with "manosphere" comedian Theo Von. The vice president told Von that as Musk for days was calling on social media for Congress to kill Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill," the president was "getting a little frustrated, feeling like some of the criticisms were unfair coming from Elon, but I think has been very restrained because the president doesn't think that he needs to be in a blood feud with Elon Musk." "I actually think if Elon chilled out a little bit, everything would be fine," he added. The interview was taped Thursday as Musk's posts were unfurling on X, the social media network the billionaire owns. "This stuff is just not helpful," Vance said in response to a post shared by Musk calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vance. "It's totally insane. The president is doing a good job." Vance called Musk an "incredible entrepreneur," and said that Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, which sought to cut government spending and laid off or pushed out thousands of workers, was "really good." The vice president also defended the bill that has drawn Musk's ire, and said its central goal was not to cut spending but to extend the 2017 tax cuts approved in Trump's first term. The bill would slash spending but also leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance and spike deficits by $2.4 trillion over the decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Musk has warned that the bill will increase the federal deficit and called it a "disgusting abomination." "It's a good bill," Vance said. "It's not a perfect bill." He also said it was ridiculous for some House Republicans who voted for the bill but later found parts objectional to claim they hadn't had time to read it. Vance said the text had been available for weeks and said, "the idea that people haven't had an opportunity to actually read it is ridiculous."
Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
Musk could lose billions of dollars depending on how spat with Trump unfolds
NEW YORK: The world's richest man could lose billions in his fight with world's most powerful politician. The feud between Elon Musk and Donald Trump could mean Tesla's plans for self-driving cars hit a roadblock, SpaceX flies fewer missions for NASA, Starlink gets fewer overseas satellite contracts and the social media platform X loses advertisers. Maybe, that is. It all depends on Trump's appetite for revenge and how the dispute unfolds. Joked Telemetry Insight auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid, 'Since Trump has no history of retaliating against perceived adversaries, he'll probably just let this pass.' Turning serious, he sees trouble ahead for Musk. 'For someone that rants so much about government pork, all of Elon's businesses are extremely dependent on government largesse, which makes him vulnerable.' Trump and the federal government also stand to lose from a long-running dispute, but not as much as Musk. Tesla robotaxis The dispute comes just a week before a planned test of Tesla's driverless taxis in Austin, Texas, a major event for the company because sales of its EVs are lagging in many markets, and Musk needs a win. Trump can mess things up for Tesla by encouraging federal safety regulators to step in at any sign of trouble for the robotaxis. Even before the war of words broke out on Thursday, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration requested data on how Musk's driverless, autonomous taxis will perform in low-visibility conditions. That request follows an investigation last year into 2.4 million Teslas equipped with full self-driving software after several accidents, including one that killed a pedestrian. A spokesman for NHTSA said the probe was ongoing and that the agency 'will take any necessary actions to protect road safety.' The Department of Justice has also probed the safety of Tesla cars, but the status of that investigation is unclear. The DOJ did not respond immediately to requests for comment. The promise of a self-driving future led by Tesla inspired shareholders to boost the stock by 50 percent in the weeks after Musk confirmed the Austin rollout. But on Thursday, the stock plunged more than 14 percent amid the Trump-Musk standoff. On Friday, it recovered a bit, bouncing back nearly 4 percent. 'Tesla's recent rise was almost entirely driven by robotaxi enthusiasm,' said Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein. 'Elon's feud with Trump could be a negative.' Carbon credits business One often-overlooked but important part of Tesla's business that could take a hit is its sales of carbon credits. As Musk and Trump were slugging it out Thursday, Republican senators inserted new language into Trump's budget bill that would eliminate fines for gas-powered cars that fall short of fuel economy standards. Tesla has a thriving side business selling 'regulatory credits' to other automakers to make up for their shortfalls. Musk has downplayed the importance of the credits business, but the changes would hurt Tesla as it reels from boycotts of its cars tied to Musk's time working for Trump. Credit sales jumped by a third to $595 million in the first three months of the year even as total revenue slumped. Reviving sales Musk's foray into right-wing politics cost Tesla sales among the environmentally minded consumers who embraced electric cars and led to boycotts of Tesla showrooms. If Musk has indeed ended his close association with Trump, those buyers could come back, but that's far from certain. Meanwhile, one analyst speculated earlier this year that Trump voters in so-called red counties could buy Teslas 'in a meaningful way.' But he's now less hopeful. 'There are more questions than answers following Thursday developments,' TD Cowen's Itay Michaeli wrote in his latest report, 'and it's still too early to determine any lasting impacts.' Michaeli's stock target for Tesla earlier this year was $388. He has since lowered it to $330. Tesla was trading Friday at $300. Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. Moonshot mess Trump said Thursday that he could cut government contracts to Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, a massive threat to a company that has received billions of federal dollars. The privately held company that is reportedly worth $350 billion provides launches, sends astronauts into space for NASA and has a contract to send a team from the space agency to the moon next year. But if Musk has a lot to lose, so does the US SpaceX is the only US company capable of transporting crews to and from the space station, using its four-person Dragon capsules. The other alternative is politically dicey: depending wholly on Russia's Soyuz capsules. Musk knew all this when he shot back at Trump that SpaceX would begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft. But it is unclear how serious his threat was. Several hours later — in a reply to another X user — he said he wouldn't do it. Starlink impact? A subsidiary of SpaceX, the satellite Internet company Starlink, appears to also have benefited from Musk's once-close relationship with the president. Musk announced that Saudi Arabia had approved Starlink for some services during a trip with Trump in the Middle East last month. The company has also won a string of other recent deals in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and elsewhere as Trump has threatened tariffs. It's not clear how much politics played a role, and how much is pure business. On Friday, The Associated Press confirmed that India had approved a key license to Starlink. At least 40 percent of India's more than 1.4 billion people have no access to the Internet. Ad revival interrupted? Big advertisers that fled X after Musk welcomed all manner of conspiracy theories to the social media platform have started to trickle back in recent months, possibly out of fear of a conservative backlash. Musk has called their decision to leave an 'illegal boycott' and sued them, and the Trump administration recently weighed in with a Federal Trade Commission probe into possible coordination among them. Now advertisers may have to worry about a different danger. If Trump sours on X, 'there's a risk that it could again become politically radioactive for major brands,' said Sarah Kreps, a political scientist at Cornell University. She added, though, that an 'exodus isn't obvious, and it would depend heavily on how the conflict escalates, how long it lasts and how it ends.'
