this puts me in a pretty small minority but I don’t actually believe the automakers when they say that they can’t make a sufficient profit on evs or that they lose money on every one they make. be it accounting tricks or outright lying, but spending billions of dollars on something that’s effectively a marketing exercise just doesn’t make any sense.
They’re not saying that. That’s how it’s being reported. What the actual manufacturers are saying is “this is new tech and all the cost is in the up front, so we’re going to lose money per car until the R&D is sufficiently amortized.” Which is then being turned into click-bait headlines of “X Manufacturer is losing $500,000 per car!”
this would make sense if they were consistently communicating this exact message. but instead we get stuff like ford raising prices and justifying it by saying that they’re losing money on their evs - if losing money was both true and expected, there would be no need for them to do or say any of this.
I think any ev from a big 3 brand (with possible exception of the bolt) isn’t actually designed to make money or develop technology and is designed as a showpiece to show consumers that they’re innovative and are in with the latest trends
I’d probably disagree with you just due to the significant costs associated with engineering and manufacturing a new product in general let alone a relatively new category. I will say I do feel like EV products from the big 3 sans GM were rushed so you’re probably right to some degree.
this puts me in a pretty small minority but I don’t actually believe the automakers when they say that they can’t make a sufficient profit on evs or that they lose money on every one they make. be it accounting tricks or outright lying, but spending billions of dollars on something that’s effectively a marketing exercise just doesn’t make any sense.
They’re not saying that. That’s how it’s being reported. What the actual manufacturers are saying is “this is new tech and all the cost is in the up front, so we’re going to lose money per car until the R&D is sufficiently amortized.” Which is then being turned into click-bait headlines of “X Manufacturer is losing $500,000 per car!”
this would make sense if they were consistently communicating this exact message. but instead we get stuff like ford raising prices and justifying it by saying that they’re losing money on their evs - if losing money was both true and expected, there would be no need for them to do or say any of this.
They’re raising prices on everything, though. And just because they expect to lose money doesn’t mean they don’t want to lose less money.
huh? they recently lowered prices on the lightning by a good amount
Ford lost $36000.00 on every EV sold last quarter!
I’m not sure I understand this comment. Are you referring to the costs associated with producing the vehicles as a marketing exercise?
I think any ev from a big 3 brand (with possible exception of the bolt) isn’t actually designed to make money or develop technology and is designed as a showpiece to show consumers that they’re innovative and are in with the latest trends
Ahh I see what you’re saying.
I’d probably disagree with you just due to the significant costs associated with engineering and manufacturing a new product in general let alone a relatively new category. I will say I do feel like EV products from the big 3 sans GM were rushed so you’re probably right to some degree.
Ford lost $36000.00 on every EV sold last quarter!