Ford's Electrified Vehicle Sales Dropped 31% in April From One Year Ago (electrek.co)
- Reference: 0183177132
- News link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/26/05/10/237205/fords-electrified-vehicle-sales-dropped-31-in-april-from-one-year-ago
- Source link: https://electrek.co/2026/05/04/ford-offers-employee-pricing-free-ev-chargers-sales-drop/
> After [2]discontinuing the F-150 Lightning in December, sales of the electric pickup have been in free fall. Ford sold just 884 Lightnings last month, 49% less than it did last April. The Mustang Mach-E isn't doing much better. Sales fell another 9% year over year in April, to just 2,670 models last month. Through the [3]first four months of 2026 , Ford's EV sales have fallen 61% from last year, with F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E sales down 67% and 50%, respectively. Ford has sold just over 10,500 electric vehicles in total so far this year... For comparison, Toyota sold just over 10,000 bZ models in the first quarter alone. That's [4]more than Ford's total EV sales in Q1.
April was Ford's fourth straight month of lower sales figures from 2025, the article points out. So Ford is bringing back "employee pricing" discounts on most new 2025 and 2026 Ford and Lincoln vehicles., while also offering "purchase incentives" of up to $9,000 for 2025 Lightning models and up to $6,000 for 2025 Mustang Mach-Es. "It's also offering EV buyers a free Level 2 home charger, 24/7 live support, and proactive roadside assistance through its Power Promise program."
[1] https://electrek.co/2026/05/04/ford-offers-employee-pricing-free-ev-chargers-sales-drop/
[2] https://electrek.co/2025/12/15/ford-reveals-new-f-150-lightning-erev-plans-kills-off-ev-version/
[3] https://shareholder.ford.com/files/doc_news/2026/May/04/Ford-U-S-April-2026-Sales-Release.pdf
[4] https://electrek.co/2026/04/02/toyota-sold-more-evs-in-the-us-than-ford-q1-one-suv/
China (Score:1, Insightful)
Just import the better Chinese EVs
These are just US sales (Score:2)
I see plenty of Mustangs and Capris in Denmark.
Re: These are just US sales (Score:1)
I also see plenty of wind turbines and solar parks in Denmark, things "nobody" does in the world.
Re: (Score:3)
The EU sales are holding steady but it's still a colossal underperformer in the EU despite what you see. How many Skoda Elroqs do you see? Because they have sold more in Q1 in the EU than Ford has sold the entirety of the past 12 months rolling, across all models in the EU ... and the Skoda Elroq isn't even the best selling EV in the EU (In Q1 it was the refreshed model Y).
Ford expect to lose $4.5bn in the Mach-E division this year.
Market forces at work (Score:2)
If Ford would manufacture an EV that people actually want, they'd sell more of them. They are perceived as a market laggard for EVs for a reason and their bread and butter is still the pick-up truck and SUV markets.
Ford's stock price has bounced around between a few dollars and just over $10 for much of the past 20 years. Their systemic problems extend well past their current EV market share.
Re: Market forces at work (Score:2)
Or maybe there needs to be way more EVs that are pickup trucks and SUVs that people can actually afford.
Re: (Score:2)
You might get those in Canada, as a result of the agreement to import Chinese EVs, but it will not happen in the US. The US OEMs are committed to a different path with their whole chest, in lockstep with the Trump administration.
I’m mildly hopeful that within three years, you may see a good value sodium-chemistry SUV in Canada with a winter range of 400 miles. Depends how niche that niche is for the Chinese OEMs. There are plenty of cold places in northern China, eg Harbin is 10m people and gets to -1
Symptomatic of US decline (Score:3)
Kind of ironic that a company that at the turn of the 20th century killed off so many coachbuilder automobile competitors by pioneering machine tools, mass assembly etc. is now finding itself on the wrong side of the equation because it can't keep up with electric tech.
Ford does make other EVs in Europe but even there a couple of their models are just reskinned Volkswagens ID.5s. They have the in-house developed Puma Electric I guess which is generally considered an okay car but nobody really talks about it. And of course the Mach-E which looks cool but is too expensive and getting kind of old. And a few electric vans. That's it.
Just like with other US companies they're watching their market shrink because they're simply not investing in emergent technologies. I'm sure they'll hang on for a bit in some niches but their consumer offerings outside of the Americas look like they are in terminal decline.
Re: (Score:2)
All of what you said but there is more: most people will do some reading before buying an EV. What will they probably see? A few scare stories about charging on the road (if I don't go to a supercharger or a fast charger I've never used or not recently used it's always a bit scary whether the fast charger will work - and of course mostly they do).
But mainly they'll read how much better other cars and mainly Chinese cars are.
Who wants to buy 2nd or 3rd best?
I spoke with a colleague here in the UK who recentl
Re: Symptomatic of US decline (Score:2)
This is all I have been trying to say for a long time now. American companies aren't paying attention to what people want in an EV, which is to be as close to a gas car as possible with the additional benefit of being able to fill at home. People are not going to jump the chasm into an EV just to (maybe) break even on the cost of ownership in five years. It's not enough of a motivator.
Re: (Score:2)
I do agree that people want a car that has a range and recharging capability that’s as close as possible to a gas car, and that as the generations of EVs continually improve, that lowers the barriers to entry for more and more people (see also: charge network density).
But on top of that, monthly costs including both finance and fuelling are demonstrably important in EV purchase decisions across many markets. The spike in fuel costs due to Hormuz has caused a spike in EV sales in many markets, and 85%+
Re: (Score:2)
Argh, wrote a long reply and then deleted it accidentally!
Key points:
1. The UK market is almost perfectly set up for buyers who want to avoid lock-in to tech that gets outdated, because finance is predominant. So you can just hand the keys back every three years and get a new car with latest gen tech, just like a phone. A big chunk of the new car buyers market does exactly that. It’s how I went from a Zoe with 90 miles of range in 2015 to an EQA with 330 miles of range in 2024, with two upgrades along
Re: (Score:2)
It is truly astonishing that the big 3 US OEMs are so structurally locked in to their current way of competing that they are willing to sacrifice strategic competitiveness in the future. Do they really think they can keep margins up in the long-term by amortising costs across a US-specific ICE supply chain? It just smacks of delusion to me, cutting themselves out of global economies of scale and giving up on all foreign markets in this way. I don’t see how all three can survive, consolidation in the U
Re: Symptomatic of US decline (Score:1)
You're looking at Detroit automakers, who have gotten complacent after numerous bailouts, with the rest of the US, where this really isn't happening. For an apples-to-apples comparison:
[1]https://evmagazine.com/news/ho... [evmagazine.com]
It's also noteworthy that the last American car to do as well internationally as the Tesla Model Y was the Ford Model T. It also turns out that Tesla has been reclaiming ground previously lost to BYD, including in China. The Canadian government is currently having to rethink things after Tesla
[1] https://evmagazine.com/news/how-teslas-european-ev-sales-have-skyrocketed
Big surprise! (Score:1)
So they don't make pizza any more, and pizza sales drops? Who could have guessed!
Re: (Score:2)
Funny enough, I saw an article not that long ago saying that America's interest in pizza was falling, because of how tough things had been for the pizzeria business.
No, America still loves pizza. What happened is all restaurants have been ratcheting up their prices the last 20 years while the quality of frozen pizza has been improving. Combine that with current economic issues and more people are choosing a frozen pie they bake at home over going out now.
Meanwhile, Denmark is now 95%+ new EV sales (Score:2)
Joining Norway. And by the mid 2030s, ICE cars will be hobbyist only across all the Scandi countries and the Netherlands, EV two and three wheelers will dominate across sub-Saharan Africa and SE Asia, and the global market will have shifted decisively and permanently. With the result that US OEMs will be at multiple permanent structural disadvantages, forever unable to get out of their five to seven year innovation cycles while the rest of the legacy industry has moved towards the Chinese 18 to 24 month cyc
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, costs are a big incentive. That’s why I can’t understand why US OEMs aren’t preparing better for the oil supply shock that’s not really kicked in yet. You’re only at 4 to 5 bucks a gallon thus far. Prices are clearly going to go much higher than that and stick there for a long time to come. I think 7or 8 bucks is quite possible.
Re: (Score:2)
Yep, we are in the steep part of the S curve now
Now say the quiet part. Loudly. (Score:2)
> Ford's sales of electrified vehicles — including hybrids and all-electric models — dropped 31% from April 2025
Hey Ford. Before we declare the month of May as the month we collectively agree to SHIT on EVs, how about you go ahead and say the quiet part out loud.
No, no. Don’t shove Eddie EV under the bus again.
Tell us how the REST of your sales are going.
THEN we can talk about how those EVs are “all” to blame, and not the insane MSRP and stealership markup greed on an asset that depreciates like fucking milk.
You want to fix new car sales? Get rid of stealerships and sell direct. Open up Right to
Re: (Score:2)
There’s not much I agree with you about, but I agree with your assessment here: US OEMs including Ford are locked into a structurally idiotic GTM that is going to end in disaster. Relying on high margin pricey products sold through third parties who don’t have your best interests at heart as the US walks into an oil supply shock and accompanying economic contraction feels like commercial suicide to me
Re: (Score:2)
> There’s not much I agree with you about, but I agree with your assessment here: US OEMs including Ford are locked into a structurally idiotic GTM that is going to end in disaster. Relying on high margin pricey products sold through third parties who don’t have your best interests at heart as the US walks into an oil supply shock and accompanying economic contraction feels like commercial suicide to me
People are abandoning the concept of an EV. The price of gas is damn near irrelevant with the EV price tag premium. And even if I'm the responsible EV owner with a level-2 charger at home and never go below 70% on my battery charging nightly, I still risk getting stuck in an EV charging line for hours during any long trip or vacation I want to take because of every other EV dumbfuck owner draining themselves down to 3% and needing a level-3 charging station every other day because they treat their car bat
I see no Ford option for me... (Score:2)
I am a loyal Ford customer for almost 20 years but my next car will not be Ford. I need a compact and Focus was perfect but is no longer available.
It would be Tesla if not for Musk. I won't be Chinese car for similar reason.
All according to plan. (Score:2)
They want to wind down sales and not have to invest more money into EVs. The Lightning had been a serious contender for my next vehicle, once it switched to NACS, but now it is just abandonware.
Re: All according to plan. (Score:1)
So, you make your EV buying decision based on what connector it has? Why do you care so much about a connector?