Since presidential candidate Donald Trump on March 16th. caused a controversy President Joe Biden’s efforts to force Americans to switch to an electric vehicle (EV) lifestyle will end in a “bloodbath” for the U.S. auto industry, predicting the industry’s own dire consequences. He has consistently proven him right.
The latest example occurred this week. Reported by Ford Motor Co. The company’s Model e EV division managed to post a loss of $132,000 per unit sold in the first quarter of 2024. The disastrous performance in the first quarter follows an equally dismal performance in 2023, when the company announced that it lost $4.7 billion for the entire 12 months on the Model E.
The company remains profitable overall thanks to strong demand for its conventional internal combustion engine SUV, pickup and large car models, but following a series of big losses on its EV line, the company announced a strategic announced a change in vision. ford ceo Jim Farley said at the time: The company announced it would delay the introduction of additional planned all-electric models and reduce production of current models, such as the F-150 Lightning pickup, while refocusing on introducing new hybrid models across its business lines.
General Motors is Good results for the entire first quarterHowever, that was based on strong sales of gasoline-powered SUV and truck models, not EVs. GM is very cautious about reporting EV-specific results and doesn’t publish them in its quarterly reports, so there’s no way to know what the true profits of that part of the business are. This is probably a practice Ford should consider adopting.
Tesla made the announcement after reporting disappointing first-quarter results, with adjusted profit down 48% and unit shipments down 20% sequentially. lay off 10% of employees worldwideThat includes 2,688 employees at the Austin plant, where the vaunted Cybertruck is built. Since its launch in November, the Cybertruck has suffered from failures within minutes of delivery, failure to deploy its $3,000 camping tent feature, and… A buyer filed a complaint His car was down for five hours because he didn’t set his truck to “car wash mode” before taking it for a run at a local car wash.
Meanwhile, international car rental company Hertz Currently on sale The company owns Teslas and other EV models and is trying to recoup some final value from what turned out to be a disastrous EV gamble. In a massive campaign touting the virtues of green, the company invested heavily in the Biden subsidy program in 2021 and made bulk purchases of 100,000 Teslas and 50,000 Polestar models, but with no electricity. It only turned out that customer demand for car rentals was similarly slow. As demand to buy them outright. Hertz reported a loss of $392 million in the first quarter due to internal issues, with $195 million of the loss due to EV struggles. Hertz’s stock price plunged about 20% on April 25 and is down 55% for the year.
If this financial carnage isn’t already a “catastrophe” for the US EV sector, it’s hard to imagine what will be. But wait a minute. Actually, it’s not that hard to imagine, right? When President Trump used this phrase in March, he was talking about not only the disastrous Biden subsidy program, but also the idea that China would establish an EV manufacturing beachhead in Mexico that could supply large quantities of EVs to the U.S. market. He also mentioned plans for An inexpensive yet high quality electric model. If that happens, the domestic EV market, which is already in a dire situation, will definitely deteriorate even further, right?
The takeaway here is that it’s becoming clear, even to EV enthusiasts, that U.S. consumer demand for EVs has peaked long before industry and government expectations.
This is a bit of a perfect storm, self-inflicted by rent-seeking corporate executives and obligatory policy makers. Given that there were many warnings that this outcome was highly predictable and, in fact, inevitable, the verdict from investors, corporate boards, and voters will come soon. That in itself could be, and probably should be, a disaster.
David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent his 40 years in the oil and gas business, specializing in public policy and communications.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
All content produced by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan news distribution service, is available free of charge to legitimate news publishers with large audiences. All republished articles must include our logo, reporter byline, and DCNF affiliation. If you have any questions about our guidelines or our partnership, please contact us at licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
