Ford, the 120-year-old American multinational automobile manufacturer, has released its business figures for Q1 2023, presenting them for the first time divided into the three core business units of Ford Blue (combustion cars and hybrids), Ford Model e (electric vehicles), and Ford Pro (commercial vehicles). The move is a watershed in the company’s history, as previously it had broken down its business figures by region. By presenting the figures for its core business units separately, Ford aims to demonstrate to investors how it is preparing for the new competition and the transformation towards electric drives.
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While Ford Blue and Ford Pro were already profitable, Ford Model e, which was spun into a separate business unit in March 2022, posted a quarterly loss of $722 million (€654 million). For the full year 2023, Ford expects a loss of $3 billion (€2.7 billion) for its electric vehicle business. Despite this, Ford plans to break even with its first generation of electric vehicles by the end of 2024.
Ford had already announced that it would incur billions in losses during the transition to electric mobility, primarily due to the enormous expenditures for development and factory conversions, which are not yet offset by low sales. Q1 2023 sales were around €700 million for Ford Model e, compared to $25.1 billion for Ford Blue and $13.2 billion for Ford Pro.
The carved-out eMobility unit Ford Model e is to operate like a start-up, with Ford emphasizing in the announcement that all start-ups lose money at the beginning, including Amazon and Tesla. Ford CEO Jim Farley and CFO John Lawler indicated that they see Ford Model e on track to break even in 2024.
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In addition, against the backdrop of production increases for its volume E models in the US, Ford has opened the order books for its technically improved Mustang Mach-E, reducing the model’s prices by $3,000 or $4,000 depending on the variant, and now starting at $42,995. This is the second US price cut for the Mustang Mach-E this year, following January. The Mustang Mach-E is eligible for US-wide tax credits of $3,750 in 2023 under the Inflation Reduction Act.
