Ford to take $19.5 billion writedown as it scraps flagship EVs • FRANCE 24 English

Straight on to business news now. Brian Quinn is joining us. He's starting with a bit of a pullback across Western economies. This is in the green energy transition in particular with regards to electric vehicles. Brian, so we'll start in the US, Stuart, where giant Ford says it's taking a 19.5 billion dollar write down as it kills off several all electric models. eight and a half billion of that hit directly related to the killing off of the company's nextG EVs including the allect electric pickup truck the F-150 Lightning that is set to become a hybrid 6 billion tied to the scrapping of a joint EV battery venture with South Korea's SK on uh Ford's commercial electric van project also abandoned weakening consumer demand and increasingly unfriendly policies from the Trump administration are behind the move sales of EV in the US fell some 40% in November After a $7,500 consumer tax credit that had been in place for 15 years was allowed to expire. Ford's announcement follows a similar one from General Motors back in October. GM taking its own $1.6 billion right down as it scales back its own EV ambitions. Ford, meanwhile, has lost some $13 billion on EVs over the past three years. A far cry from the ambitions of the company's executive chair, Bill Ford, back in 2022. Take a listen. Here he was. This truck is going to change everything. It has capabilities that nobody has ever seen. So, even if you've been an uh F-150 owner for years, you've never experienced anything like Lightning. Lightning will change the way America works. People are going to love this truck. >> It's not just uh the US though, is it Brian? Europe also getting set to water down its own electric vehicle ambitions. Uh it it does Stuart. The EU appears ready to scrap its landmark ban on the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars that was due to take effect in 2035. The European Commission is expected instead to roll out a new plan on Tuesday, one that would replace the 100% all electric target with a 90% one. The move is aimed at propping up the continent's struggling auto industry as that ban was looking increasingly unrealistic. higher upfront costs and the lack of sufficient charging infrastructure weighing on consumer demand. For the first three quarters of this year, just 16% of new cars sold in Europe were fully electric. Germany's auto sector, in particular, has been lobbying hard for walking back that petrol ban as US tariffs and competition from China batter its sales. The industry is crucial for the German economy. It represents around 720,000 direct jobs, 5% of Germany's GDP. Analysts say they're allowing the sale of plug-in hybrids and range extender cars, which use small combustion engines to charge a battery, will give German firms time to adapt. >> The agreement to scrap plans for a ban on combustion engines for now will give German car manufacturers some breathing space, especially with regard to future developments, but above all with regard to current figures. It will give German car manufacturers a little more time to implement the switch from combustion engines to alternative drive systems and make them even more efficient. >> Yeah. Not surprisingly though, not everyone in Europe happy about the watering down of those EV requirements. >> Well, obviously uh bad news for the climate. Recent studies show that plug-in hybrids pollute almost as much as regular combustion engine vehicles. Then there's the countries like Sweden, Spain, and France who want to keep the current timeline to avoid harming companies that have put major investments into complying with it. France just inaugurated a new EV battery gigafactory last week as Europe tries to ramp up production and reduce its dependent on Chinese imports. Luke Shrego has the details. When it comes to electric vehicles, the French government is allin. It hopes its third gigafactory in northern France will put it and Europe on the path to asssuring continental independence in battery manufacturer. Strategy French government strategy has not changed. The investment made here by Veror in partnership with local authorities is an absolutely strategic investment necessary to move towards vehicle electrification. Mobile. >> Veror thinks its factory will be turnurning out enough batteries to power up to 300,000 vehicles a year if it hits full speed as scheduled by the end of the first quarter 2026. However, there's a long way to go for what's still a nent European industry. Facing off against wellestablished, cheaper and more advanced Asian competition and expected uptake for electric batteries has been slower than hoped. Sweden's hope for the sector, North Vault, went under earlier this year, mired in slow production and quality defects. And a lack of charging infrastructure throughout the European Union, particularly for heavy goods vehicles, has caused not just several of the continent's automakers, but its politicians to pour cold water on Brussels ambitions for clean energy transport. It was a serious industrial policy mistake by the left-wing majority in the European Parliament to regulate technologies and dictate how we should achieve climate targets. That's the job of markets and consumers. What's certain is that Europe's vehicle battery sector is progressing far more slowly than elsewhere. And for now, only time will tell if France is to light the way for others to follow or watch its electric dreams run out of power. And we're going to wrap up the business news with a quick look on the markets, how they're shaping up. Asian indexes following Wall Street downwards as investors continue to bail out of AI and tech shares. The Cosby and Soul leading losses at around 2 and a/4% with shares in Korea Zinc down nearly 14%. Hong Kong and Tokyo each off around a percent and a half. Here in Europe, major indexes are in the red as well. while the DAX off by around half a percent as German car makers continue to sink despite that expected loosening of the ban on combustion engines. London and Paris down just slightly at the open. And that is it for business. Start >> Brian. Thank you very much. Quinn with the business news

Ford is abandoning top EV models like the F-150 Lightning as weak demand and hostile policies from the Trump administration weigh on sales. We take a closer look. Also in this edition: the EU prepares to water down its own upcoming ban on sales of new internal combustion vehicles, while France tries to support its own EV battery sector.
#Ford #EVs #writedown

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29 comments

  6. Great news, this means the surviving ev manufacturers will 'own' the expanding ev world. US just signaled they are out of the car business. 80m new cars sold every year, the US at 14.8m and, decreasing yearly.

  10. Europe will follow the US in loosing all their auto industry in the next 10 years. China will be the main auto industry country.

  11. The net zero “green” scam is the biggest rip off nonsense ever pushed by the media and politicians
    The sooner it dies the better…

  14. No-one cares about the climate, because everyone flies. Staying off planes is by far the easiest way to cut your carbon emissions, but no-one does it.

  15. there will only be ford and tesla , all others will fall in the states. Nobody will buy an EV car without Tesla app and software. Price of gas is dropping in an effort to stop EV sales, 2025 gas price is $1.90

  16. The reason people have not fully embraced EV"s is more to do with the price than anything but that is changing with the introduction of cheaper batteries making EV's more affordable

  18. Why is there no simple electric work vehicle. Something like the slate truck? Who TF needs all these premium cars??? One scratch and it’s worthless??? We need cheap work vehicles!!

  21. We dont want EVs we want V12 and V8 and less spyware and subscription services and eliminate the start atop button.

  23. They shut down 1 product line, one which was about to get an internal competitor which costs half as much to produce. They also took advantage of the new tax policy. This is a non- story.

  25. EVs are amazingly good
    Everyone would have loved it
    Libs started worshipping the God of climate
    And everything went south
    Regulation did not end horses and carts
    Same would have happened with ICE vehicles in due time ( when the technology and associated infrastructure is ready)
    But Libs had to show their new God how devoted they are😂😂😂😂

  28. We only play if we can dominate others. We also really want to go into war with Russia and China, so clearly we can´t compete with China in EV or renewables production. USA are a joke in this regard too.

  29. Nobody ask for EVs, the car manufacturers under the pressure of the politicians have been forcing it down our throats.

Comments are closed.