Ford retreats from EVs and takes big financial hit as Trump policies grip

Ford Motor said on Monday it will take a $19.5 billion US writedown and is killing several electric-vehicle models, in the most dramatic example yet of the auto industry’s retreat from battery-powered models in response to the Trump administration’s policies and weakening EV demand.

The Michigan-based company said it will replace the fully electric F-150 Lightning with a new extended-range electric model that uses a gas-powered engine to recharge the battery.

The company is also scrapping a next-generation electric truck, codenamed the T3, as well as planned electric commercial vans.

“When the market really changed over the last couple of months, that was really the impetus for us to make the call,” Ford CEO Jim Farley told Reuters in an interview.

Ford said it will pivot hard into gas and hybrid models, and eventually hire thousands of workers, even though there will be some layoffs at a jointly owned Kentucky battery plant in the near term.

The company expects its global mix of hybrids, extended-range EVs and pure EVs to reach 50 per cent by 2030, from 17 per cent today.

The car company will spread out the writedown, taken primarily in the fourth quarter and continuing through next year and into 2027, the company said. About $8.5 billion US is related to cancelling planned EV models.

Around $6 billion is tied to the dissolution of a battery joint venture with South Korea’s SK On, and $5 billion on what Ford called “program-related expenses.”

The automaker also raised its 2025 guidance for adjusted earnings before interest and taxes, to about $7 billion, up from a previous range of $6 billion to $6.5 billion.

Ford shares rose about 1 per cent in after-hours trading.

Trump policies reshape EV market

Ford’s shift reflects the auto industry’s response to waning demand for battery-powered models, after car companies plowed hundreds of billions of dollars into EV investments early this decade.

The outlook for electrics dimmed significantly this year as U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies yanked federal support for EVs and eased tailpipe-emissions rules, which could encourage carmakers to sell more gas-powered cars.

U.S. sales of electric vehicles fell about 40 per cent in November, following the September 30 expiration of a $7,500 US consumer tax credit, which had been in place for more than 15 years to stoke demand.

The Trump administration also included in the massive tax and spending bill that passed in July a freeze on fines that automakers pay for violating fuel-economy regulations.

The F-150 Lightning rolled off assembly lines starting in 2022 with much fanfare – comedian Jimmy Fallon wrote a song about the truck. Ford increased production of the model…