Ford cancels 3-row electric SUV, delays opening of new plant and full-size EV pickup

Ford (F) is revamping its electric vehicle strategy, canceling and pushing back some of its projects as the company looks to get a hold on higher EV costs. The changes come as Ford sees smaller, cheaper EVs as the future, with hybrid technology reserved for powering larger vehicles.

Starting off with larger EVs, Ford said it is canceling the upcoming release of a large, three-row electric SUV in favor of leveraging hybrid technology for its next-gen three-row SUVs. The updated changes to this product strategy will result in Ford taking a special non-cash charge of about $400 million for the write-down of certain product-specific manufacturing assets and could result in a further $1.5 billion charge in later quarters, the company said.

Ford stock was up over 1% on Wednesday.

“This is about us being nimble and listening to responses from our customers,” Ford vice chairman and CFO John Lawler said in a call with reporters regarding changes to its three-row SUV plans.

“Hybrid tech for those customers is the best solution,” Lawler added, saying the cost structure of a three-row electric SUV could not meet Ford’s requirement of profitability in the first 12 months of launch that Ford is targeting with its newest EVs.

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Ford also said it is “retiming” the launch of its upcoming next-gen electric truck — code-named “Project T3” — to the second half of 2027. Ford’s BlueOval City Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center will still assemble the vehicle after an 18 month delay, Lawler said.

In addition, Ford said it plans to introduce an all-new commercial van that will begin production in 2026 in Ohio, followed by two new pickup trucks in 2027 — a medium-size pickup based on the platform designed by Ford’s California Skunkworks team and a next-generation truck to be assembled in Tennessee. The next generation truck is the Project T3 truck, Lawler said.

The small pickup from the Skunkworks team does not mean there won’t be other products coming off that platform, as Ford said this isn’t a change from its plan to launch a small car or other smaller vehicles from this platform.

Lawler also said this move wasn’t in response to Chinese automakers and their ability to produce cheap EVs. The California Skunkworks team was created over two years ago in anticipation of changing cost structures and the need to get competitive with EVs and battery costs in general.

Ford had some positive news to share regarding batteries. Ford said it would move some Mustang Mach-E battery production from Poland to a plant in Holland, Michigan, in 2025 to qualify for Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits.

In addition, the BlueOval SK Kentucky plant will manufacture cells for the current E-Transit commercial van, and those cells will produce an enhanced range for F-150 Lightning trucks beginning in mid-2025, Ford said, while “delivering significant cost improvements coming online earlier than planned.”

The other BlueOval SK plant located at BlueOval City in Tennessee will produce cells starting in late 2025 for Ford’s new electric commercial van, which will be built at Ford’s Ohio assembly plant. Those cells will be used for the next-gen Project T3 pickup as well.

Finally, Ford said lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery production is on track to begin in 2026 at BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, the plant where Ford is licensing technology from China’s CATL for production. Ford said this plant would also qualify for IRA benefits.

Lawler said the changes announced today were consistent with the $12 billion the company said it would push back in EV spending. Lawler also said these changes mean it will leverage other means to be in compliance with emissions targets, including the purchase of regulatory credits “as appropriate.”

Lawler revealed the company is planning a broader “EV Day” in the first half of next year to reveal new details of its upcoming three-row hybrid SUV capabilities and production location, in addition to walking through profitability schedules for its EV business going forward.

Ford’s EV sales were up 31.2% in July and 63.9% year to date, with the Mustang Mach-E and Ford F-150 Lightning EV leading the way.

Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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