Detroit Automakers Take $50 Billion Hit as EV Bubble Bursts
Companies are taking big losses and making moves to reduce electric-vehicle capacity amid regulatory changes and cooling demand
U.S. automakers have been pumping the brakes on their electric-vehicle businesses for months, and the costs are piling up.
EV sales fell more than 30% in the fourth quarter, after a $7,500 federal tax credit that had juiced U.S. sales expired in September. Demand cratered for the highest-profile EVs, from Tesla’s TSLA 0.09%increase; green up pointing triangle Cybertruck to Ford’s much hyped electric pickup. Automakers expect demand to remain muted this year.
GM, which is forging ahead with much of its EV strategy, albeit at a smaller scale, didn’t have as much to cancel and write down. The company, for instance, still aims to build big EV trucks. Ford, meanwhile, is changing course.
“Instead of plowing billions into the future knowing these large EVs will never make money, we are pivoting,” Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley has said. Ford now says it will make one low-cost EV pickup by 2027.
Automakers’ retreats and massive write-downs have come as Republican lawmakers abolished a lucrative federal tax credit for EVs last fall, while also doing away with federal fuel-efficiency mandates. Even with federal support, EV demand was below expectations.