In recent years, the global auto market has been surging, and many Chinese car companies have seized the opportunity and relied on the advantages of the strong industrial chain to set off an unstoppable wave of electrification. Foreign car companies that were stunned by our three-board axe also followed after coming back to their senses, and the transformation of electrification has become the "political correctness" of the global auto market for a while. However, this trend has changed in recent times, the former luxury car companies represented by Mercedes-Benz announced the suspension of the electrification process, and then Apple and other giants abandoned the electric vehicle projects invested for many years, and the recent statements of United States car companies seem to emphasize the trend of slowing down electrification in Europe and the United States again.
At the end of August 2024, United States traditional car giant Ford Motor announced that it would postpone the release of the next generation of electric pickup trucks by two years, while directly canceling plans to build a three-row electric SUV model. Combined with Ford's recent actions, this news is not surprising, because a few months ago, Ford had announced that it would postpone the production of electric SUVs until 2027, which is a precautionary shot for consumers in advance.
Now that the plan to build a three-row electric SUV has been cancelled, the previous planned expenditure can be saved for other things, said Lawlor, CFO of Ford Motor Company, "Ford will focus on its strengths, which are commercial and pickup trucks. "It looks like after going around and around, Ford is going back to his old ways.
Seeing this, many friends may be curious, Ford's original electrification plan has been done well, why is it slamming on the brakes and going down the old road now? We often say that specific problems should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, and electrification is a general trend in the Chinese market, but not necessarily in the United States. Although the current government of United States actively promotes environmentally friendly new energy and has achieved certain results, the growth rate of the United States new energy vehicle market is not as strong as imagined, of which in 2023, the sales of electric vehicles in the United States market will only exceed 1.2 million units. The slowdown in the growth of electric vehicle sales has cast a shadow on the development prospects of this type of product in the United States, and many car companies have begun to slam on the brakes, announcing production cuts or even abandoning electric vehicles.
In fact, in terms of sales alone, Ford is not bad at electrification, with Ford's EV sales increasing by 61% year-on-year in mid-2024. In the United States, its sales are second only to Tesla. However, behind the surge in Ford's electric vehicle sales is a huge loss, according to Ford's estimates, its electric vehicle business may lose $5 billion in 2024. That's an exaggerated figure, averaging about $50,000 per car sold, which is why Ford plans to reduce its capital expenditure on future all-electric models to 30 percent from 40 percent. On top of that, another of our old friends, General Motors, has also pressed the pause button on the electrification transition. GM has already postponed the launch of the Buick EV and is again delaying the start of production at its Detroit electric pickup plant. And the Chevrolet Silverado EV, which has already skipped once, has been postponed from 2024 to 2026.
It is worth noting that at present, large-displacement pickup trucks are still the most popular model category in the United States market, of which in mid-2023, United States pickup truck sales will reach 2.18 million units, a year-on-year increase of 9.3%. On the one hand, there is a huge loss and weak growth of the electric vehicle business, and on the other hand, there is a steadily growing pickup truck market, and every elementary school student knows what to choose. And in order to meet the strong demand in the pickup truck market, Ford has now put more effort back into the segment. Among them, in July this year, Ford Motor renovated the Oakville automobile assembly plant in Ontario, Canada, and used the factory that originally produced electric vehicle assembly lines to produce its own medium and large pickup Super Duty series.
At present, the United States, an important country in automobile manufacturing, is facing the problem of electrification transformation, and there are many reasons for this problem, and there are two main reasons:
The first is the high cost of manufacturing electric vehicles. Although the United States government has also given subsidies, it has imposed restrictions on the procurement of raw materials, which is to force companies to conduct their own research. Although this direction is correct, it has caused the R&D and manufacturing costs of various car companies to rise sharply, and these costs will eventually be passed on to the products, and consumers will pay after all.
The second is that the charging facilities are not perfect. At present, the number of public charging piles in United States is less than 200,000, which is simply not enough to put such a lot of investment in a country as large as United States. On the other hand, gas stations can be seen everywhere, and United States is an oil-producing country, and the price of oil is cheap, if you want to be really convenient, you have to drive a gas car.
Uncle Che concluded
In general, in the United States, which is still a world of oil vehicles, traditional car companies can steadily pan for gold in the blue ocean market, and there is really no incentive to spend a lot of money to promote electrification. However, this does not mean that these car companies have given up on electric vehicles, and perhaps in the near future, they will make a comeback. Our domestic car companies need to keep a clear head and continue to deepen electrification, so as to be invincible in the future competition.