Ford Motor said on Monday it will take a US$19.5 billion (HK$152.1 billion) writedown and is killing several electric-vehicle models, in the most dramatic example yet of the auto industry's retreat from battery-powered models in response to the Trump administration's policies and weakening EV demand.

The Dearborn, Michigan-based company said it will replace the fully electric F-150 Lightning with a new extended-range electric model that uses a gas-powered engine to recharge the battery. The company is also scrapping a next-generation electric truck, codenamed the T3, as well as planned electric commercial vans.

“When the market really changed over the last couple of months, that was really the impetus for us to make the call,” Ford CEO Jim Farley told Reuters in an interview.

Ford said it will pivot hard into gas and hybrid models, and eventually hire thousands of workers, even though there will be some layoffs at a jointly owned Kentucky battery plant in the near term. The company expects its global mix of hybrids, extended-range EVs and pure EVs to reach 50% by 2030, from 17 percent today.

The car company will spread out the writedown, taken primarily in the fourth quarter and continuing through next year and into 2027, the company said. About US$8.5 billion is related to cancelling planned EV models. Around $6 billion is tied to the dissolution of a battery joint venture with South Korea’s SK On, and US$5 billion on what Ford called “program-related expenses.”

The automaker also raised its 2025 guidance for adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, to about US$7 billion, up from a previous range of US$6 billion to US$6.5 billion.

Ford shares rose about 1 percent in after-hours trading.

TRUMP POLICIES RESHAPE EV MARKET

Ford’s shift reflects the auto industry’s response to waning demand for battery-powered models, after car companies plowed hundreds of billions of dollars into EV investments early this decade. The outlook for electrics dimmed significantly this year as U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies yanked federal support for EVs and eased tailpipe-emissions rules, which could encourage carmakers to sell more gas-powered cars.

U.S. sales of electric vehicles fell about 40 percent in November, following the September 30 expiration of a US$7,500 consumer tax credit, which had been in place for more than 15 years to stoke demand. The Trump administration also included in the massive tax and spending bill that passed in July a freeze on fines that automakers pay for violating fuel-economy regulations.

The F-150 Lightning rolled off assembly lines starting in 2022 with much fanfare – comedian Jimmy Fallon wrote a song about the truck. Ford increased production of the model to meet an influx of 200,000 orders, but sales haven’t kept pace. The company sold 25,583 Lightnings through November of this year, a 10 percent decrease from the prior-year period.

The successor to the F-150 Lightning, the T3 truck, was supposed to be built from the ground up at a new complex in Tennessee, and be a core part of Ford’s second-generation EV lineup. Ford is now replacing production of the EV pickup with new gas-powered trucks starting in 2029 at the Tennessee factory.

Ford effectively killed the entirety of its second-generation of EV models with Monday’s announcement. For its future EV lineup, the company is shifting focus to more affordable EV models, conceived by a so-called skunkworks team in California. Ford plans to price the first model from that team at about US$30,000 and begin sales in 2027. Ford is building this midsize EV truck at its Louisville plant.

“Rather than spending billions more on large EVs that now have no path to profitability, we are allocating that money into higher-returning areas,” said Andrew Frick, head of Ford’s gas and electric-vehicle operations. Earlier this year, Ford said it expected to lose roughly US$5 billion on its EV business this year, about the same as it lost in 2024.

GM AND STELLANTIS ALSO SCALE BACK

The recent dropoff in U.S. EV sales leaves automakers that hurried electric models to market competing over a shrinking pool of buyers. Like Ford, many traditional automakers are rotating back to gas and hybrid models, while narrowing their EV offerings to shore up losses in that space.

That could leave pure-play EV makers like Tesla and Rivian with an opportunity to take market share, albeit from a smaller total, analysts have said.

General Motors took a US$1.6 billion charge in October as it adjusted its EV factory plans, and warned that it would likely take more charges in the future. Stellantis has also backtracked on some of its EV plans, axing a scheduled electric Ram pickup truck and leaning into hybrids.

Some traditional automakers’ move to hybrids follows the lead of Toyota Motor, the longtime market leader on hybrid models, which emphasized the technology even during the industry’s EV euphoria.

Last year, Ford canceled a three-row electric SUV, a move that it said at the time would cost it up to US$1.9 billion. The automaker said Monday it now expects to be profitable on its EV business by 2029.

Ford’s EV production facilities and three battery plants in the South were disrupted last week when its joint-venture partner SK On announced that it was ending its partnership with Ford. The automaker confirmed Monday that as part of the breakup, a Ford subsidiary will independently own and operate its Kentucky battery plants, and SK On will own and operate a Tennessee battery plant.

Ford said it will use its battery plants in Kentucky and Michigan to produce energy storage system batteries, and it plans to bring initial capacity online within 18 months. The factory in Marshall, Michigan, will also produce batteries for Ford’s US$30,000 midsize EV truck.

REUTERS

Ford retreats from EVs, takes US$19.5bln charge as Trump policies grip industry