Even as Ford and other automakers continue to pass inflation costs off to consumers, one Ford executive says the efforts weren’t enough to stop high demand from cutting out profits completely on one new electric vehicle (EV).
Ford CFO John Lawler said on Wednesday that the automaker’s profits from the Mustang Mach-E were erased by inflation, though the demand for its EVs hasn’t been harmed, according to a report from CNBC.
At a conference hosted by Deutsche Bank, Lawler explained that new Fords and Lincolns are seeing higher demand than supply, despite the still-ongoing semiconductor shortage.
However, even Ford’s price increases to combat inflation weren’t enough to offset costs, resulting in its profits dropping significantly.
Ford Needs to Cut Ad Spending, Revamp Dealers to Compete with Tesla and Others: CEO https://t.co/WINdohuzTY
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Regarding the company’s past tendency to stock large inventories, Lawler said, “We don’t have that today.” Lawler continued, “We’re very lean on inventories. We have an order bank that’s significant at over 300,000 units. … As an industry and as a company, we’re heading into this [possible recession] in a much different position than we’ve ever been in before.”
Lawler also said that the Mach-E was initially profitable when it first launched in 2020, though that isn’t the case anymore.
Ford halted Mustang Mach-E sales this week over a safety issue affecting about half of all models sold so far.
