Can this possibly be true? Ford loses $50,000 on each EV they sell?

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Years ago I was a critic of tax rebates for rich guys buying $100,000 Tesla sports cars. Rich guys don’t need my tax dollars to indulge themselves. I need lower taxes. Now things might actually be worse. The Telegraph (UK Newspaper) claims that Ford is losing nearly $50,000 on every EV. (See link below)

Like every good gob smack claim, this one comes with an asterisk. The study – by Substack and the Telegraph – appears to apply ONLY to EVs sold in the UK. Maybe that means Ford makes a profit on them in the USA? Nobody knows . . . Ford isn’t talking.

But Ford IS closing an American EV assembly line. That factiry will make F150’s instead. I can guarantee Ford is NOT losing $50K on each pickup truck. EVs and trucks are all they make, except for the Ford Mustang. Which will probably soon be axed in favor of an EV.

The EV assembly line closure followed the cancellation of a Ford battery factory earlier this year. If you’re not making batteries, you don’t need to make the cars, I guess.

The Telegraph reached out to Ford, to ask WHY they’re losing $47,600 per electric car (an oddly specific number). Their answer? “Price War”. Stop laughing. This is EXACTLY what they said. Go to the link.

Evidently this price war so fantastic, they’re giving EVs away in England? I wish I’d known beforehand. I’d have gone over, bought one, and shipped it back. Actually, all I’d need to do is pay the shipping charge, I guess, if they’re practically them away. You’d think this would turn up in popular British TV shows too. Part of the plotline. “Nigel, let’s go down to the Trent-on-Avon Ford dealerships. EVs are free this month.”

The Telegraph calculates that Ford is going to lose $5 billion this year. Which must be UK only, since Yahoo Finance says they’re making money hand over fist in the USA. Shares are up from $9.70 six months ago to about $14.00 currently.

So is The Telegraph bs’ing us? I’d have to go to England to find out. I seriously doubt Ford is locked into a price war that causes them to lose $47,600 per car. Instead, I expect that this is some sort of accounting chicanery to avoid paying Eurozone taxes. No wonder everyone hates us . . .

I’m just sayin’ . . .

~Ford loses $50,000 on every electric car (msn.com)~

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wildbill83 · 36-40, M

depends how much government subsidy ford is getting for producing them to begin with. Supposedly, the figure was $9.2 billion for 2023 with 72,000 ev's sold (can't find actual production numbers); without accounting for overhead/manufacturing costs, that comes out to around $128k per vehicle.

So, 128k plus whatever they're selling them for (the cheapest all electric vehicle being the E-mustang at around 40k msrp). If they're losing 50k on something they're essentially selling for 170k, then I can only surmise that they're either horrible at manufacturing/logistics, or pay way too much for union labor...

In either case, I'd say it's more than likely that their biggest competitors (chinese imports) can produce & sell their EV's without subsidies at a net cost for less than what domestic companies are paying for labor union costs alone...

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@wildbill83 i think everyone agrees that $140,000 a year for a UAW assembly line worker is too much. Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, etc pay far less. And probably get a better result in terms of assembly fit and finish.

wildbill83 · 36-40, M

@SusanInFlorida It's becoming a systemic problem in the west; it's not just the unions anymore. These younger generations expect a high wage for doing menial work; and they try and justify their incompetence and poor work ethic on supposedly not getting paid enough.

20-30 years ago, you were lucky to get $10-12 an hour for a job that required hard labor and 12 hours shifts (when I started out, I was only getting $8 for building fence & guardrail out in the weather all day from dusk till dawn).
Fast forward to today; kids don't think $15 is enough to do a job that a toddler could do...

Things are gonna have to change drastically eventually, or else the US and Europe will become welfare states devoid of any jobs or domestic production; and we should start by outlawing the unions, or at the very least, discourage it/allow union breaking again.
Start moving what few factories we have left away from spoiled, union controlled, urban areas towards the rural south where non union workers will perform better quality work for 1/4 the wage...

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@wildbill83 the bizarre expectation now is "equality of outcome", not of opportunity. people believe they should be free to fool around in school, drop out, use narcotics, and show up for work late (if at all) and be paid the same as those who put in an honest days work.

SunshineGirl · 36-40, F

So is The Telegraph bs’ing us? I’d have to go to England to find out. I seriously doubt Ford is locked into a price war that causes them to lose $47,600 per car.

Most probably. The Daily Telegraph is not renowned for rigorous journalism 😐

The only tax they would be liable for here is import duty, which would be very difficult to avoid on 4 tons of steel and glass. Any "loss" I imagine is an accountant's sleight of hand which will be offset against your corporation tax 😐

SusanInFlorida · 31-35, F

@SunshineGirl ford makes some EVs in england, for the UK market. they would be subject both to UK taxes and European Union taxes.

FloorGenAdm · 51-55, M

Those EV people got more money than the sun has fire.

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