FORD Motor will sell its lineup of electric vehicles through all 2,800 of its US dealers in a bid to boost sales of battery-powered models now being shunned by mainstream buyers.
The automaker is scrapping a plan that required dealers to invest as much as US$1.2 million in their stores in order to qualify to receive models such as the electric Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning plug-in pickup. Roughly half of Ford’s retailers had signed up for that programme.
“The growth has slowed down and we’re getting into the tough innings,” Marin Gjaja, chief operating officer of Ford’s EV unit, Model e, said in a call with reporters on Thursday (Jun 13).
By stocking EVs in all of Ford’s dealerships “we expect it’s going to help us grow our sales,” Gjaja said.
“We think that it will give us greater geographic coverage, create more convenient locations for customers to buy and get their vehicle serviced.”
The move is the latest shift in Ford’s EV strategy, which has seen the automaker reduce spending on battery powered models by US$12 billion, cut EV factory capacity, delay new models and slash prices.
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In the first quarter, Ford lost more than US$100,000 on each EV it sold, more than twice its losses last year.
Ford has said it expects to lose as much as US$5.5 billion this year in its EV unit, which chief executive officer Jim Farley recently said “is the main drag on the whole company right now.” BLOOMBERG
