Ford slashes price of electric F-150 Lightning as demand falters

Ford, Tesla and other automakers must lower prices to entice buyers as supply of battery-powered models begins to outpace demand .

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">After struggling to find enough batteries and other parts for the past two years, automakers are finally starting to produce large numbers of cars and electric trucks. More than 30 new models will hit showrooms this year.

What they need now is more customers.

While electric vehicle sales are growing — they jumped about 48% in the second quarter from a year earlier — they aren't growing fast enough to keep pace with the number of vehicles rolling off the assembly line. And inventories of unsold vehicles are starting to pile up.

More than 90,000 battery-powered cars and trucks are on dealer lots, four times more than a year ago, according to Cox Automotive, a market research firm. That's enough to last 103 days at the current rate of sales, compared to around 50 days for the industry as a whole. moment,” said Jonathan Gregory, senior director of economic and industry insights at Cox. “They built up E.V. inventory, but now they're waiting for buyers to come. »

Faced with this imbalance between supply and demand, manufacturers are lowering prices and offering more incentives. On Monday, Ford Motor slashed prices of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck from $6,000 to nearly $10,000, or up to 17% on some versions. The company is also offering reduced interest rates of 1.9% to 3.9% on select loans for Lightning purchases.

These measures follow several series price cuts by Tesla, the dominant seller. of electric cars. Tesla's price cuts prompted Ford to lower prices for its Mustang Mach-E electric sport utility vehicle, although this did not bring Mach-E inventory back to sales level.

At the end of June, Ford dealers had 16,400 of this model in stock, about 2,000 more than they sold in the first six months of the year.< /p>

While many consumers show an interest in electric vehicles, they are often not ready to go through with a purchase. Many people have been put off by the high prices of electric cars and expect them to cost no more than comparable gas-powered models, which could be accelerated by recent price cuts.

Other car buyers worry about how far these cars and trucks can go on a full charge. Many models currently available need to be recharged after driving 200-250 miles. The uncertainty of finding charging stations and how long it takes to charge vehicles may put some people off.

Glenn Staub, a personal trainer at White Plains, N.Y., said he wanted to buy a hybrid or all-electric car because of the potential environmental benefits and savings on fuel costs. But he won't be on the market until his 2014 Toyota Corolla breaks down.

"My policy for keeping cars is to drive them until that they are no longer usable," he said. said. It may not be for a few years; his Corolla has covered just under 100,000 miles and is running well.

Sales have become particularly slow for high-priced luxury models - a segment of the market that has an overabundance of options from Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche and Lucid Motors. Many of these cars are between $75,000 and $160,000.

"I think there was a lot of hype around electric vehicles, and people were did their research and realized that these are premium vehicles and they "don't come cheap," said Rick Ricart, president of Ricart Automotive, which owns nine new car franchises in Dublin, Ohio. "And there was a pushback."

Mr. Ricart said his family's Ford store had a high-end F-150 Lightning Platinum truck on sale for $92,000 for more than two months. “A year ago it would have been sold out now,” he said.

Another group of EVs struggling to find buyers are those no longer eligible for a $7,500 federal tax credit under the Cut Inflation Act, President Biden's ambitious climate change bill. THE ...