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On July 24, local time, Ford Motor released its financial report for the second quarter of 2024. According to the financial report, Ford's revenue in the second quarter was $47.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 6.2%, and EBIT was $2.8 billion, a year-on-year decline of 27%, far below market expectations. Total revenue in the first half of the year was US$90.6 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%; Net income was $3.2 billion and EBIT was $5.5 billion.
In the gasoline vehicle business, hybrid vehicle sales increased by 34%, accounting for nearly 9% of Ford's global vehicle sales. The electric vehicle business is "lagging behind", Ford Model e sales in the second quarter of 26,000 units, revenue of 1.1 billion US dollars, EBIT loss of 1.1 billion US dollars (about 7.97 billion yuan), an average loss of 42,300 US dollars (about 306,000 yuan) per electric vehicle. In the first half of the year, a total of 36,000 electric vehicles were sold, with a revenue of US$1.3 billion, and an EBIT loss of US$2.5 billion, with an average loss of US$69,400 (about 503,000 yuan) per electric vehicle.
In this regard, Ford officially said that it is "because the first-generation electric vehicles are facing industry price pressure, and the wholesale price is relatively low".
In fact, Foton's electric vehicle business is less competitive, last quarter, Ford's electric vehicle division Model E only sold 10,000 vehicles, revenue was only 100 million US dollars, and the loss reached 1.3 billion US dollars, equivalent to a loss of 132,000 US dollars (about 956,000 yuan) for every car sold. According to Ford's earnings forecast, the loss of the electric vehicle business is expected to increase to about $5.5 billion by the end of this year, which means that the loss will continue to widen in the second half of the year.
In the face of such huge losses, Ford also made rescue measures. As early as May this year, according to Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, Ford Motor had begun to cut orders from battery suppliers to stop the loss growth of electric vehicles. The move is part of a strategic contraction in Ford's electric vehicle business, which, in addition to cutting battery orders, plans to reduce spending by $12 billion on battery electric models, delay the release of new electric vehicles, lower prices for vehicles such as the F-150 Lightning, and postpone and shrink planned battery plants.
Ford CEO Jim · Farley has also said that Ford's electric vehicle division, the Model e, "is a major drag on the company right now." ”
Looking back at the development of the electric vehicle industry in United States from the "huge losses of Ford's electric vehicle business":
- Electric vehicle sales in the United States
Policy support has accelerated the growth of electric vehicle sales in the United States. In the first quarter of 2021, electric vehicle sales in the United States reached 125,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 62%, and the electric vehicle penetration rate also increased to 3.4%.
- Market share of electric vehicle brands
In terms of market share, Tesla occupies a leading position in the United States electric vehicle market with a market share of 63% in 2020. From January to May 2021, Tesla's market share in the United States electric vehicle market decreased to 51%; Toyota, Volkswagen, GM and other brands have increased their market share.
Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the passenger association, said that technical challenges are one of the factors that have led to the slowdown in the pace of electrification (in Europe and the United States). At present, there are still many problems in the energy density, charging speed and recycling of their batteries, and it takes time and R&D investment to solve them, which cannot be completed by European and American car companies in a short period of time. At the same time, for a major automotive country like Germany, the recent removal of government subsidies for electric vehicles reflects fiscal pressures and the protection of the existing traditional automotive industry structure.
Despite this, Bai Wenxi, chief economist of IPG China, believes that the future development and growth trend of pure electric vehicles is certain, and car companies still need to improve the level of key technologies, improve production efficiency, and reduce production costs to cope with market competition pressure.
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