An electric Ford pickup truck is on display during the Electrify Expo DC in Washington, DC, on July 23, 2023.
Nathan Howard | fake images
Ford engine is ending a controversial electric vehicle dealership program that initially asked store owners to invest more than $1 million to sell electric vehicles.
The “certified electric vehicle” program was announced in September 2022 by Ford CEO Jim Farley amid high vehicle demand, low supplies and industry-wide optimism for all-electric cars and trucks. However, this optimism has not produced the expected results.
Sales of electric vehicles by Ford and other automakers are growing, but at a much slower pace than many expected. That has led automakers to delay or cancel future investments and electric vehicles.
“The world has changed,” Marin Gjaja, chief operating officer of Ford's Model E electric vehicle business, said during a news conference Thursday. “Growth has slowed.”
Gjaja said the Model e Dealer Program, which included about half of the 2,800 Ford dealers in the United States, “is coming to an end” as the market experiences changing conditions and amid conversations with dealers. The company had faced lawsuits from distributors over the program.
Instead, Ford will open electric vehicle sales to all of its dealers in a bid to boost sales of its all-electric cars and trucks.
“It allows us to open up EV sales and service to more dealers,” Gjaja said. “We think it will help us increase our sales.”
Dealers will have to make some investments for charging, training and other expenses related to electric vehicles, but not as many as in the previous program, which included expected investments of between $500,000 and $1.2 million.
Gjaja said those initial estimates were high. He said dealers who participated in the full program invested about $600,000 on average.
