Ford announced Thursday that it is delaying production of two electric vehicles, a next-generation EV pickup and a three-row EV SUV. The pair are now expected to arrive in 2026 and 2027, delays one and two years respectively. In their place, the automaker will introduce hybrids across the U.S. lineup.
Ford’s CEO has been telegraphing the delays for months. Last fall, it postponed $12 billion in planned investments. Then, in an earnings call in February, CEO Jim Farley said, “Hybrid products will play an increasingly important role in our industry’s transition and will be here for the long term.” This is the kind of sober talk that shareholders love to hear.
Wall Street is likely to welcome the move, especially after Toyota said its sales in the United States rose 22% year over year on strong demand for hybrids. Ford’s change seems designed to boost cash flow and short-term profits, which seems reasonable for a company of its size, especially in times of uncertainty.
But here’s the thing: Ford is unusual among established automakers in that it does best when it thinks like a startup, something it seems to have taken note of more recently, despite EV delays. It succeeds better when it shapes the market than when it responds to it.
More recently, that startup mentality has been on display with the Mustang Mach-E, Ford’s all-electric crossover. When the EV began to take shape nearly a decade ago, the original plan was to build a perfectly sensible crossover powered by an electric motor in the front. The design was aerodynamic, but so uninspired that one of the company’s outside designers questioned who would buy it. Judging by his appearance proposed designthese misgivings were understandable.
But then-CEO Jim Hackett scrapped the plan and gave the team just two years to come up with something new. The result was a crossover that helped Ford claim second place in US EV sales for several quarters in a row.
The Mustang Mach-E was no accident. Ford has a track record of pulling rabbits out of hats. In the 1980s, when American automakers were plagued by Japanese imports, Ford abandoned its boxy, heavy designs and created the Taurus, which was released in late 1985. The stylish, spacious and affordable car was unlike anything they had seen by American consumers, and it was an immediate hit. Ford was sold 1 million from those first three years, a success that likely saved the company from bankruptcy.
Five years later, Ford pivoted again with the introduction of the Explorer. SUVs were nothing new, but at the time most were two-door models focused on utility qualities like towing and off-road driving. Cars remained the dominant choice among consumers. But by adding rear doors and a host of creature comforts, Ford has transformed the SUV into a family-friendly truck. It may have cannibalized the company’s car sales, but the decision to launch the Explorer proved prescient: Not only did it fuel another decade of growth for the company, it foreshadowed a world where SUVs dominated the market.
There are other examples: Ford used a fast and lean approach when development the original Mustang, allowing it to define a whole new class of fast, expensive ‘pony cars’. It did the same after World War II, when it produced what is now known as the ’49 Ford, a car that broke styling conventions and propelled the automaker back to the forefront of sales. And don’t forget Ford’s original assembly line, which while not a product, was certainly a product of entrepreneurial thinking.
Farley faces different challenges today. Its predecessors mixed and matched basic designs, platforms and construction techniques, while the heart of each of these vehicles, the engine, remained largely the same. Electric vehicles challenge manufacturers to start with a clean slate, or at least rip out that heart without losing what made the original vehicle so great.
Ford has excelled at these tasks: The Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning aren’t just great electric vehicles, they’re all-around great vehicles.
Still, they weren’t the successes Ford expected. That’s partly because they were too expensive — price cuts have proven there’s still demand for them — and also because the charging infrastructure to support them remains underdeveloped. If charging is preventing Ford from selling more EVs, perhaps it needs to address the problem head on. And if it can’t price its EVs competitively and still make a profit, maybe Ford needs to find a cheaper way to build them.
The company has already hit the ground running, forming a skunkworks led by ex-Tesla executive Alan Clarke to develop a low-cost EV. If the team can bring a product to market, some of that startup spirit may finally be alive at Ford.
