My conscience is clear. I tried my best to make the case for not charging into the EV world so hard, almost a year and half ago. but I’m just a media member who, apparently, didn’t know any better. I wrote an open letter to Jim Farley. Ford’s CEO trying to make the case that you could not force a market that was not there. I wish they had listened, much of this almost $20,000,000,000 might have been saved. If you didn’t see the letter I wrote, you can view it here:
An Open Letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley →
In the letter published on July 9, 2024, I wrote: “With all due respect, you cannot force a market that is not there.” I warned: “Americans will push back if you try to force them to do anything, but if you try to come between the people and their love affair with cars, you’ll become their adversary.”
What spurred my letter was Mr. Farley saying, in a TV interview: “The first thing we have to do is really put all of our capital toward smaller, more affordable EVs.” In my letter, I questioned: “Are you 100% sure you want to put all Ford’s cash toward smaller, more affordable EVs as you stated? Is there evidence people will buy these small electrics?”
In closing, I said: “If you take anything away from this today, let it be that you cannot force electric cars on the public. The market will decide when it is time to make the transition: not you, not Ford, not the government.”
Ford Motor Company Chief Communications Officer, Mark Truby, whom I knew from my days of being the Ford Dealer Council Chairman called me and he agreed to come on the Car Pro Show. Here is the interview we did:
Interview with Ford Motor Company COO, Mark Truby →
So, here we are. The company I represented as a Dealer and franchise holder is writing off $20 billion dollars, enough to buy about 400,000 new vehicles at today’s $50,000 average price. That was an expensive lesson.
In the end, this isn’t about being right, and it certainly isn’t about saying “I told you so.” It’s about listening—listening to customers, to the dealers on the ground, and to the market itself. Twenty billion dollars is not an accounting entry; it is factories that could have been built, vehicles that could have been sold, and American jobs that could have been secured. The lesson here is not that electric vehicles are a mistake, because they are not. The lesson is that markets move at the pace of the customer, not the pace of press releases, boardrooms, or government mandates. The transition will happen when buyers are ready—and when it does, the companies that listened instead of lectured will be the ones still standing.
Monday’s Announcement From Ford
Ford Motor Co. is sharply curtailing its once-ambitious electric vehicle expansion and redirecting capital and factory capacity toward gasoline-powered and hybrid vehicles, a strategic reversal the company says is necessary to stem mounting losses in an EV market that has not matured as quickly or as broadly as expected.
The Dearborn-based automaker said the revised strategy includes canceling a planned next-generation electric commercial van that had been scheduled for production in Avon Lake, Ohio, beginning in 2028. Instead, workers at the Ohio Assembly plant will build a next-generation gasoline and hybrid van starting in 2029, a move Ford says better aligns with customer demand and profitability targets.
Because the company now expects to produce fewer EVs than originally planned, Ford also said it will redirect a portion of its battery manufacturing capacity toward energy storage systems, a rapidly growing segment driven by data centers, utilities and commercial customers seeking backup and grid-balancing solutions.
“This is a customer-driven shift to create a stronger, more resilient and more profitable Ford,” CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “The operating reality has changed, and we are redeploying capital into higher-return growth opportunities: Ford Pro, our market-leading trucks and vans, hybrids and high-margin opportunities like our new battery energy storage business.”
Ford said the changes are expected to begin narrowing the financial losses of its Model e electric vehicle unit as soon as next year, with profitability targeted by 2029. The EV division lost about $5 billion in 2024, underscoring the pressure automakers face as EV pricing, incentives and demand remain volatile.
“These are big decisions that we believe will pay off for years to come for our customers, our employees, American jobs and manufacturing,” Andrew Frick, president of Ford’s gasoline and EV businesses, told reporters during a conference call. Frick said the revised plan reflects a clearer-eyed assessment of consumer buying patterns, particularly in trucks and commercial vehicles, where hybrids are gaining traction faster than fully electric models.
Despite the pullback, Ford emphasized it is not abandoning electrification altogether. The company said about half of its global vehicle volume will consist of hybrids, extended-range EVs and full battery-electric vehicles by 2030, up from roughly 17 percent today. Hybrids, in particular, are playing a central role in the transition strategy, offering improved fuel efficiency without the charging and range concerns that continue to deter some buyers.
As part of the restructuring, Ford said it plans to add about 2,100 jobs at a battery plant in Kentucky that will now be dedicated in part to the energy storage business. The facility will be wholly owned by a Ford subsidiary following the termination of a joint venture with South Korean battery maker SK On.
In Tennessee, Ford said its assembly site at the sprawling BlueOval City complex will employ about 2,300 workers when production begins in 2029. The company previously said the entire BlueOval City campus would eventually support about 6,000 jobs but had not provided a breakdown for the assembly plant itself.
Ford said the strategic shift will result in special charges totaling about $19.5 billion, largely recorded in the fourth quarter. At the same time, the automaker raised its 2025 financial outlook, projecting adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of about $7 billion, up from a prior range of $6 billion to $6.5 billion. The company cited continued underlying business strength and cost improvements for the more optimistic guidance.
One of the most striking elements of the announcement is Ford’s decision to discontinue the F-150 Lightning, its all-electric pickup that executives once compared to the Model T in historical importance. The Lightning will end production after less than four years, following an October halt triggered by a fire at a supplier’s aluminum plant. Ford said it opted not to restart Lightning production, choosing instead to focus resources on more profitable gasoline and hybrid versions of the F-150.
Rather than producing a next-generation all-electric Lightning at BlueOval City, Ford plans to reimagine the pickup as an extended-range electric vehicle assembled in Michigan. Extended-range EVs use a gasoline engine as a generator to supplement battery power, addressing range anxiety while reducing fuel consumption.
Ford did not provide a timeline for the launch of the extended-range Lightning replacement.
The decision mirrors a move by Stellantis earlier this year to cancel a fully electric Ram pickup in favor of an extended-range version. That truck, now known as the Ram 1500 REV, is scheduled to debut in 2026. General Motors has also slowed EV investment while boosting production of gasoline-powered vehicles, reflecting an industry-wide recalibration.
BlueOval City, originally envisioned as Ford’s largest and most efficient manufacturing hub with EVs at its core, will now open in 2029 producing what the company described as “affordable, gas-powered” trucks. A Ford spokesperson said the newly named Tennessee Truck Plant will build “a model we don’t have today,” signaling a fresh entry rather than a direct replacement for an existing vehicle.
Ford’s new energy storage business will manufacture lithium iron phosphate prismatic cells, battery energy storage system modules and 20-foot direct-current container systems at the Kentucky plant. Lisa Drake, Ford’s vice president of technology platform programs and EV systems, said the company expects to invest about $2 billion to retool the facility for energy storage production.
Ford also plans to produce smaller-capacity cells for residential energy storage at its battery plant in Marshall, Michigan. That site is scheduled to begin producing lithium iron phosphate prismatic cells in 2026 for use in an upcoming midsize electric pickup.
The start of production at a second Kentucky battery plant, which would be owned by the same Ford subsidiary as the first, remains indefinitely postponed.
Ford’s retrenchment underscores the challenges facing the auto industry as it balances regulatory pressure, capital intensity and uneven consumer adoption of electric vehicles. While EVs remain a long-term priority, Ford and its rivals are increasingly betting that hybrids and extended-range models will serve as a more practical bridge to an electric future, one that customers appear more willing to buy into today.
