Ford loses $4.8 billion on EVs, CEO says ‘the customer has spoken’

Ford lost $4.8 billion on EVs

Ford’s electric vehicle division lost $4.8 billion in 2025. CEO Jim Farley put it bluntly on the company’s earnings call this week: “The customer has spoken. That’s the punch line.”

The company posted an $11.1 billion net loss in the fourth quarter, its worst quarterly result since the 2008 recession.

Most of that came from $15.5 billion in one-time charges tied to scrapping Ford’s previous EV strategy. Ford expects its EV division to lose another $4 billion to $4.5 billion in 2026.

A fire and tariffs made things worse

The losses went beyond slow EV sales. In December 2025, Ford announced a $19.5 billion writedown as it overhauled its electric vehicle plans.

A fire at a Novelis aluminum plant in New York disrupted production of Ford’s most profitable trucks and cost the company about $2 billion. Tariffs on auto parts added roughly $2 billion more.

Meanwhile, Ford’s EV sales dropped 14 percent in 2025 to about 84,000 vehicles across three models.

Ford ended F-150 Lightning production

The all-electric F-150 Lightning is done. Ford ended production in December 2025, closing the book on a truck that launched with enormous hype in 2021 and a promised starting price around $40,000.

By 2025, the base price had climbed to about $55,000, and Ford lost money on every truck it sold. The company once planned to sell up to 150,000 Lightnings a year, but never topped about 40,000.

Federal EV tax credit ended in September

The federal $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles ended on Sept. 30, 2025. Congress eliminated it through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed in July 2025.

The $4,000 credit for used EVs ended the same day.

The impact showed up fast in Lightning sales, which dropped from about 5,200 units in December 2024 to roughly 1,700 in December 2025. Without the credit, buyers faced thousands more out of pocket.

Hybrid sales hit a record high

While EV sales slumped, Americans flocked to hybrids. Ford sold a record 228,072 hybrid vehicles in 2025, a 21.7 percent increase over the year before.

The F-150 Hybrid alone moved nearly 85,000 units, up 15 percent and far outpacing the Lightning. The compact Maverick Hybrid sold over 81,000 units, up about 18 percent.

Farley said Americans chose “partial electrification” over going fully electric.

Ford’s overall sales rose 6 percent

Ford’s total U.S. sales climbed 6 percent in 2025 to about 2.2 million vehicles.

The F-Series pickup line sold over 828,000 trucks, marking its 49th year as America’s top-selling truck. Ford’s U.S. market share rose to 13.2 percent.

The company’s commercial division, Ford Pro, earned $6.8 billion and helped offset the EV losses. So while the electric side bled cash, the rest of Ford held strong.

A $30,000 electric pickup is coming

Ford is building a new Universal EV Platform designed for affordable, high-volume vehicles. The first model will be a midsize four-door electric pickup with a target starting price of about $30,000.

Ford plans to launch it in 2027, built at its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky. The platform will eventually support at least five different vehicles, including SUVs and commercial vans.

The goal is to sell EVs that people can actually afford.

The new truck focuses on simplicity

Ford says the midsize EV pickup will offer more passenger space than a Toyota RAV4. It will use lithium iron phosphate batteries made at Ford’s BlueOval Battery Park in Michigan.

Ford designed the truck with 20 percent fewer parts and 25 percent fewer fasteners than a traditional vehicle. The company is putting $5 billion into the new platform, including $2 billion at the Louisville plant.

Keeping things simpler should help keep costs down.

The Lightning name will return differently

The Lightning name is not going away, but the next version will look very different.

Ford plans a next-generation F-150 Lightning as an extended-range electric vehicle with a gas-powered generator on board to stretch its range.

The company says the new Lightning could offer an estimated 700-plus miles of total range. Ford will build it at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, the same plant where the original Lightning was made.

Other automakers are also pulling back

Ford is not the only automaker bleeding money on EVs. Stellantis, which owns Jeep, Ram, and Chrysler, reported about $26 billion in EV-related losses.

General Motors reported roughly $7.6 billion in EV write-downs.

Several automakers have canceled or delayed electric models as consumer demand fell short of earlier projections. The whole industry is recalculating how fast the electric shift will happen.

Ford expects a rebound by 2026

Ford is guiding for adjusted earnings of $8 billion to $10 billion in 2026, up from $6.8 billion in 2025.

The company does not expect its EV division to break even until 2029 and is targeting an 8 percent profit margin by that year. Farley called the changes difficult but necessary to set up a stronger future.

The path forward leans heavily on cheaper EVs and the hybrid lineup that customers already want.

What this means for car buyers

Buyers looking for an electric Ford truck right now are out of luck. The Lightning is gone, and the new models are years away.

Ford’s hybrid lineup, including the F-150 Hybrid and Maverick Hybrid, remains available and in high demand. Without the federal tax credit, electric vehicles from all brands cost thousands more than they did a year ago.

The broader industry is shifting toward more affordable EVs and hybrids, which could bring lower prices in the coming years.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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