July 17 (Reuters) – Ford Motor (FN) deepened a price war in the electric vehicle industry on Monday by slashing prices on its F-150 Lightning trucks, including a 17% cut for the base model, as it aims to increase its share of a dominated EV market. by Tesla. (TSLA.O).
Ford shares were down about 5% in afternoon trading. Rival General Motors (GM.N) also fell 3%, while electric vehicle maker Rivian (RIVN.O) it was down about 4%. Tesla shares rose 2% after the company built its first Cybertruck at its Austin plant.
The Detroit automaker, which had raised Lightning prices earlier this year, said it was able to lower prices thanks to improvements in scale and raw material costs for batteries.
The move comes amid a price war started by Tesla a few months ago, which has seen electric vehicles from legacy automakers. piling up at dealerships as sales are slow. In the quarter through June, Ford’s electric vehicle sales fell 2.8%.
“Shortly after the launch of the F-150 Lightning, rapidly increasing material costs, supply constraints and other factors increased the cost of the EV pickup for Ford and our customers,” said Marin Gjaja, director of customer service. to the customer of Ford Model e.
“We have continued to work behind the scenes to improve accessibility and affordability.”
Ford also said it temporarily closed its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan to complete final plant upgrades as it aims to triple the facility’s annual operating rate to 150,000 Lightning trucks, starting this fall.
Although price will always be a big factor, getting from a $3 billion loss rate for the Ford Model e to breakeven will require most of it to come from scale, said James Picariello, an analyst at BNP Paribas Exane.
The prices of battery raw materials have been one of the factors that have pushed up the prices of electric vehicles. But prices for cobalt and lithium, crucial for electric vehicle batteries, have fallen.
Ford has also fortified its sourcing options and unveiled new battery-grade lithium supply agreements earlier this year.
The base Pro variant of the Lightning now has a suggested retail price of $49,995, up from its previous price of $59,974, while the higher-end Platinum model will cost about 6.2% less, at $91,995.
Reporting by Nathan Gomes and Shivansh Tiwary in Bangalore; Edited by Pooja Desai
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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