Ford Tweaks EV Plans Again as EVs Break Sales Again

Unknown: 0:00

You're not streaming or anything, right?

‍Paul J Daly: 0:20

All right. Good morning, everybody. It is August 22 we are still here in Miami at the name Ed annual meeting. It's been a wild ride. Today. We're talking about four tweaking, EVs, EV sales, doing well, besides that, and Chick fil A is now a streaming service,

Kyle Mountsier: 0:45

I think, I think what that just told me is we're on days three slash four of a long trip.

Paul J Daly: 0:52

No doubt we're ready to go see I want to comment on the third story. I

Kyle Mountsier: 1:00

know we'll get to the third story. Chick fil A streaming. I'm

Paul J Daly: 1:03

going to save that one for the end. But we've been having an amazing time again with the name at annual meeting has really taken off in the last couple of years, and the inflection point has been hit, and we're starting to see so many, like familiar faces that haven't been here before. Yeah, like last night, we're hanging out. Brian benstock talked to so many people. Never been, ever been here. Maybe

Kyle Mountsier: 1:24

didn't even know that it existed. You know, this is actually, I found it was 44th year of this conference. So it's nothing new. It's just kidding. The ramp, you know, there's a lot of focus on diversity from the manufacturers over the last six years, and then you start to see more media outlets like ourselves kind of talk about what's going on at this event. I would just say, Hey, if you haven't looked at the event, if you haven't looked at Neyman membership, yeah, and if you are, you know, in a minority, you should look at the membership, but also, whether you're a minority or not, it's an incredible conference, great community and a place where, really, the community is the main calling card that

Paul J Daly: 2:07

is, community is the main event. Yep, sounds familiar? Hey, I know there's a lot that feels so familiar between like a soda con and this meeting, just because when people walk in, they're ready to talk, they're ready to meet new people, they're ready to listen, ready to grow. We want to thank our friends at TrueCar plus for being the sponsor of all of our name ad content. We had such a great time hanging out with Matt Jones yesterday. We're going to have him a little bit later to talk about some of the things he's been seeing and learning but but TrueCar plus has been such a great partner, not only to the name ad community, but to us as a sodu, helping us bring the content to you every day from this show, and we've we're leaving it all in the field.

Kyle Mountsier: 2:46

We're putting it all out there. It's all done. So I led to it

Paul J Daly: 2:49

all right. So Ford is adjusting its EV plans again, canceling the long planned three row electric crossovers and delaying the next generation full size electric pickup by 18 months. Wow. As of right now, the automaker says they're going to be focusing on a family of three hybrid crossovers. The changes could result in 1.9 billion in cost cutting, including a $400 400 million non cash charge related to the cancelation of the crossover. Wow, just for canceling its cost. Yeah, that's why. And so CFO John Lawler says quote, we looked where the segment was evolving, the amount of competition the customer needs, and then the size of the battery that needs to go in a pure EV, the cost structure, the pricing, all that we could not put together a vehicle that met our requirements to be profitable in the first 12 months of launch. How about that? Profit is now a primary consideration.

Kyle Mountsier: 3:41

It is a primary consideration. You know, they're, they're a lot full electric pickups have been pushed to late 2027, on their next gen from the original f1 50 lightning. And they've said that EVs would represent roughly 30% of Ford's capital expenditure down from a plan 40% so definitely a restructuring of the of the entire org, looking at what's the consumer demand, what's the opportunity for profitability. And, you know, this is a move that we've been talking about for a while. It's a more measured approach. They're introducing more hybrids. You know, I was talking to a couple dealers earlier this said, hey, look, we're they were Toyota dealers, but they also have Ford stores, and they just said, Hey, look, when we look over at Toyota, we've seen the way, like a lot of other manufacturers, are heading back in that direction. So you see Ford doing that with their hybrids. I think it's going to pay dividends. I

Paul J Daly: 4:33

was looking forward to the three row EV because I have a big family, and like as I'm in consideration right now, the EV nine is really the only one. Yep, that's even and so I was looking forward to the Explorer three row and like, let's see what they come up with. However, the concept of, like, an expedition or a navigator that might have a really great hybrid powertrain is pretty attractive as well. Yeah, just broader trend right now we're looking. Your profitability as a driver, we're no longer getting the pass to say, well, it's an EV so let us do what we want. Let's lose as much as we want. We're just, you know, entering a rational EV era,

Kyle Mountsier: 5:10

exactly. And another conversation I was having dealers back at the Reynolds conference earlier this week is that they are now in a position where they are turning down EVs every single month on allocation intentionally, because they there are certain model lines that they just can't sell. So, yeah, you know, it's, I think it's different for every dealer, different for every sector of the US, right, depending on where you're at. But definitely a change in, in approach, well,

Paul J Daly: 5:38

in, in an apparent, seemingly contradictory story, despite talks of the EV slow down, US markets all record breaking EV sales in q2, of 2024, with 18 electric models surpassing 5000 units sold. Tesla Ford and Hyundai are in the lead, but newcomers are also gaining ground. Basically, we hit a record 320,000 plus units in q2, up 11% from last year and 23% from q1. Wow, the Mustang Mach E, f1, 50 lighting, two Ford vehicles, Hyundai IONIQ five, the BZ 4x from Toyota, rivian r, 1s Cadillac lyric, BMW i for Kia. EV, six, Ev, nine, Nero, Chevy Blazer. EV, Volkswagen ID for Mercedes, EQE and the Nissan Aria. We have a lot of options. All of these sold more than 5000

Kyle Mountsier: 6:29

units. So that's strong. That's

Paul J Daly: 6:31

really strong. A lot of representation in there. As we previously reported, Tesla's market share dipped below 50% for the first time last quarter. And basically, I'm missing. I'm missing the thing now. And Hyundai, including Kia and Genesis, together, took 10% of the total market, outperforming Ford, so there's a lot of shifting. Stephanie, Valdez, streety, Cox Automotive Industry Insights director said automakers that deliver the right product at the right price and offer excellent customer experience will lead in the way of EV adoption. That sounds like, yeah, yes. It sounds like car was correct.

Kyle Mountsier: 7:08

You know, we had some conversations yesterday at the wilcon event, and heard some people talking about, you know, the necessity for continued education, kind of broad scale, right? That it's not a one size fits all education that it is on a very individual level, the consumers are coming in wondering what exactly the EV is so needing to have education, and, you know, recognizing that there's a different customer experience demand on an EV buyer right now, right from a delivery perspective, looking into all the technology of that vehicle. So, but kudos to these brands for for leaning in. We're actually looking with it. We're actually in a pole star last night. It was our head of productions first, first ride in an EV and Man, this guy, you know, you know what was interesting to me, and when you when you look at like, the current EV market, he knew just about as much about EVs, about their future production, about like Samsung's battery development. So people that are interested in these are interested in knowing not just about the brand that they're buying, but about the future development and what they could buy two, three years from now, as they get used to their EV purchase patterns. So you said thing to be thinking. Also,

Paul J Daly: 8:17

I thought, I think it's really interesting that this uber driver rent his EV by the week through an Uber program with hertz, yep. And so he was renting this pole star two for$400 a week, including insurance requirement was he has to do at least 30 rides. And now, because he does that, because they have that program, somebody had their first EV experience. That's just how it's going. Speaking of smart, oh yes, and delicious

Kyle Mountsier: 8:50

arena with plans to launch its own streaming service focused on family friendly content, the vast food giant is partnering with top production companies to create some original shows moving into the media landscape for the first time, they are going to be developing original content. The focus is going to be mainly on unscripted shows. Hey, I like something about we know something about that. Collaborations include production companies behind popular series like NBC the wall and Netflix's 13 reason why. So, you know, couple different types of unscripted stuff, like games and things like that. A 10 episode family friendly game show has already been greenlit, and they're saying that their projects are they're not massive budget, but about 400,000 per half hour is there? Is there? That's

Paul J Daly: 9:38

a healthy that's a healthy budget. I think if anyone can pull this off, Chick fil A can pull it off. Yep, they're building something that's very well received, which is streaming television with a massive brand. They're understanding the family friend friendly is one of their hot spots, and they're going to develop content for that. They have a massive distribution network, not only through their stores. Page, but through their email list, through their app, they've experimented, you know, they they made like, some these mini series, like little animated content. So I think it's going to be great. We happen to think this would be a great home for the more than car series. It's like a really good fit, especially when you think of the people that the recruiting pool that we need from this industry, of people coming in entry level or mid level into the industry. I think we'd hire some my pleasures. I think we'd hire a couple of I think we probably already have. So I'm excited to see what they what comes with this. Actually, if you know anyone in the Chick fil A organization that you connect us with, I think this is a great opportunity for the auto industry to kind of make, make some inroads into a massive, massive brand loyal customer, first thinking market. That's

Kyle Mountsier: 10:43

right. I think. I mean, how many training videos and training events have you been where Auto has been likened to Chick fil A? Just a couple?

Paul J Daly: 10:53

I'm telling you what it's like, every other training encouragement series that I've ever said. Well, this is our last live show from the name ad annual meeting. We're going to bring you some more interviews and coverage from it throughout the next few days to make sure that you get everything that's going on. In the meantime, keep tomorrow morning.

Unknown: 11:22

Hello,

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