Ford Motor Company is delaying the planned rollout of some of its next-generation electric vehicles (EVs) as it is expanding hybrid vehicle offerings, the car manufacturing giant said on Thursday in the latest sign that consumer uptake of EVs has slowed down.
Ford continues preparations for the market launch of its all-new three-row electric vehicles at the assembly complex in Oakville, Ontario, it said.
The transformation of the Oakville Assembly Plant - a comprehensive overhaul of the plant from a gas vehicle assembly plant into an EV manufacturing complex - is set to begin in the second quarter of this year, as planned.
But the launch of the new three-row electric vehicles is now pushed back to 2027 from 2025.
"The additional time will allow for the consumer market for three-row EVs to further develop and enable Ford to take advantage of emerging battery technology, with the goal to provide customers increased durability and better value," Ford said in a statement.
At the same time, Ford will be looking to expand its hybrid electric vehicle offerings.
By the end of the decade, the company expects to offer hybrid powertrains across its entire Ford Blue lineup in North America. In the first quarter of 2024, Ford's EV sales jumped by 86% and hybrid sales rose by 42% compared to the same period last year.
"As the No. 2 EV brand in the U.S. for the past two years, we are committed to scaling a profitable EV business, using capital wisely and bringing to market the right gas, hybrid and fully electric vehicles at the right time," Ford president and CEO Jim Farley said.
In another sign of a slowing EV market, Tesla saw its deliveries slump in the first quarter for the first annual drop since the start of the pandemic in 2020. Tesla missed analyst forecasts by a mile in a sign that even price cuts haven't been able to stave off an increasingly heated competition on the EV market.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More
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