There were a number of clues that might have suggested to Ford executives that they were on the wrong track when it came to the company’s massive investment in EV production. The first was that EVs were so far from being ready for mass market acceptance that buyers had to be bullied and/or bribed to buy them. The second was that, as might be expected in the case of the introduction of a technology that was more top-down than bottom-up, the charging infrastructure to support it, even when it was in place, was not ready for prime time. The third was that Ford was, at least in some respects, acting in a corporatist joint venture with the government. Such efforts can be profitable (as some of those businesses hopping into business with the Trump administration must hope), but if the political climate shifts, well . . .
And Ford ought to have realized that opposition to EVs was far greater in the U.S. than the EU (although things are getting increasingly rough over there, too).
Ford, reports the Wall Street Journal, is taking a $19.5 billion hit “mainly” tied to its EV business. According to the WSJ, Ford has lost $13 billion on EVs since . . . 2023.
The goal, explains the WSJ’s Sharon Terlep, “is to pull back from loss-making assets and redeploy capital designated for EVs to models with higher profitability.” Well, yes.
Ford will be boosting its lineup of gas-powered cars but also shifting to hybrids and “extended-range electric vehicles that include onboard gasoline engines.” Hybrids, eh? I am old enough to remember when Akio Toyoda of Toyota (what did he know about cars?) got into trouble mainly with some noisy ESG or climate-crazed investors for suggesting that hybrids could represent an attractive compromise between EVs and conventional cars. Extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) are closer to “pure” EVs, although they also have an internal combustion engine lurking inside. Unlike a plug-in hybrid, however, the internal combustion engine does not “drive” the car but kicks in to recharge a fading battery. Demand for EREVs has been surging in China, and the range of some models can be as much as 800 miles. According to the WSJ, Ford is going to stop making an EV F-150 pickup and redo it as an EREV.
The WSJ:
Ford said that by 2030 roughly half its global volume will consist of hybrids, extended-range vehicles and EVs. The shift to hybrids is accelerating around the world, as those vehicles are increasingly seen as more affordable and practical to consumers who are reluctant to commit to pure EVs.
In 2022, Mr. Toyoda was warning (as he had been for a while) about the dangers of pinning everything on EVs. That is what got him in trouble. Mazda had expressed concern too, as had the chairman of Maruti Suzuki India, which sells around 50 percent of India’s cars.
No matter.
Writing for Electrek in August 2022, Jameson Dow was appalled that the executive vice president of sales at Toyota Motor North America, “whose company currently sells no [“pure” EVs] in the United States, thinks he knows better than governments, the public, and companies that actually produce EVs.”
The following January Electrek quoted Polestar’s head of, oh dear, sustainability, Fredricka Klaren (Polestar is a Sino-Swedish EV manufacturer). Klaren, who had previously been head of sustainability at a fashion company, “took aim at Toyota and its EV strategy (or lack thereof), claiming anything but a fully electric future will fail to address climate change.”
In October 2021, Polestar’s stock was trading at around $300. It now trades at about $13.50. One consolation was that the company saw rapid (+48 percent) year-on-year revenue growth in the third quarter. The bad news is that it has negative gross margins, is hemorrhaging cash, and has a frightening-looking balance sheet.
And how are things going on for Polestar in China?
Polestar Closes Final Physical Shop in China After Selling Just 69 Cars This Year.
On the other hand, Sustainability Magazine (November 2025) is impressed:
Polestar has been celebrated for its sustainability leadership in Sustainability Magazine’s Top 250 World’s Most Sustainable Companies 2025.
Now back to Electrek (November 5, 2025):
Toyota is selling cars faster than it can build them. With strong demand for hybrids, the company says it can “barely cover the demand.”
Mr. Toyoda seems to have known what he was talking about. Fancy that!
EREVs and plug-in hybrids outsold “conventional” EVs in China last year. In April, Reuters quoted Felix Kuhnert, an automotive analyst at consultancy PwC Germany, explaining what was going on. China’s industry was, he said. “technologically less dogmatic” than some of its global competitors. Apparently, they take the approach that “if the customer wants more range in their electric car, then they should get it.”
A revolutionary idea, so to speak.