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Recently, Ford announced that it would readjust its electric vehicle strategy due to lower-than-expected demand for electric cars. The specific adjustment will be to cancel the launch of a three-row pure electric model and postpone the electric version of the pickup FMI150. The electric version of the Fmur150 pickup truck will be postponed from the originally planned 2025 to the second half of 2027. At the same time, the proportion of money spent on electric vehicles has been reduced from 40% to 30%. In the face of slowing demand in the electric car market, officials decided to increase the production of hybrid models.

As for the delay in the electric version of the pickup Fmur150, officials said the move could reduce costs. Ford CEO Jim Farley also said that the adjustments were based on market feedback and an in-depth assessment of cost-effectiveness. Ford will not launch new electric models now until they are guaranteed to be profitable in their first year on the market. It is worth mentioning that such a shift in official strategy will also result in losses of about $1.9 billion in related special charges and asset writedowns.

In fact, Ford's decision to make an electrified strategic adjustment is not surprising. With the rapid development of electrification, Ford's electric vehicle business is still facing a situation of increasing losses.

Figures show that in the second quarter of this year, Ford electric vehicles had revenue of $1.1 billion and a profit loss of $1.1 billion before interest and tax. Based on Ford's cumulative sales of 26000 vehicles in the second quarter, it is not difficult to calculate a loss of $42000 for every electric car it sells. As for the losses in the electric car business, officials said the Model e electric vehicle business is expected to lose $5 billion to $5.5 billion this year, mainly due to falling wholesale sales and price pressures in the industry.

It is worth mentioning that with the rapid development of electrification, Ford compared with other car brands, the speed of electrification transformation is not fast. Take the Chinese market as an example, after Ford launched the Mustang Mach-E model, which is produced by Changan Ford and went on sale on April 23, 2021, the price range of the new car is 24.99-369900 yuan. Sales of the car have been in the doldrums since its launch. Relevant data show that Ford Electric Horse sold only 6080 vehicles in 2022 and 2062 in 2023. Last August, Ford announced its strategic transformation and business adjustment in the Chinese market, and the operation of Ford Electric Horse in the Chinese market will be taken over by Changan Ford. However, after being taken over, Ford electric horse sales did not improve, data show: in July Ford electric horse sales of 129, this year's cumulative sales of 700.

In addition, in addition to the sluggish sales of electric cars, Ford's own market share of fuel vehicles has also been reduced. Figures show that Ford sold 496000 vehicles in China in 2022, down 33.5% from a year earlier. By 2023, Ford's cumulative sales in China were 467000, a further decline of 29000 compared with 2022. Of course, Ford has also made a series of adjustments in recent years in the face of the rapid development of electrification and the decline in sales. As early as last year, officials announced that they would cut jobs and save costs. In February last year, Ford officially announced that it would cut 3800 jobs in Europe over the next three years in an effort to cut costs and remain competitive in the electric car market.

According to Ford's strategic plan, Ford plans to produce more than 2 million electric vehicles worldwide in 2026, accounting for 50 per cent of electric vehicle sales in 2030. The ideal is beautiful, but at present, in terms of the development speed of electrification in the Chinese market, the electrification speed of Ford in China is always weak. How to speed up catching up in the follow-up may be the difficulty for Ford to make a comeback in electric sales.

For Ford's adjustment, some industry insiders pointed out that judging from the current situation of Ford's electrified development, it must be more painful in the short term. But in the long run, long-term pain is better than short-term pain. Postponing investment in some electric vehicles can reduce some costs, as well as buy time to reduce battery costs and other related expenses. However, the move also carries some risks, delaying investment in some electric vehicles or causing Ford to lag behind other automakers in competition in the field of electric vehicles.

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