Ford’s EV retreat highlights industry dilemma: Build for the US or the world?
DETROIT: Ford CEO Jim Farley walked through Ford’s Michigan design studio Monday afternoon, reflecting on how he was about to wipe out thousands of work hours on electric vehicles that he and his team had hoped would revolutionize the American auto industry. Shortly after, his company announced it would kill several of those battery-powered models and take a $19.5 billion writedown on EV-related assets. It marked the industry’s biggest electric-vehicle retreat since U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping auto-policy changes iced already cooling EV demand. Farley had spent years telling staff and investors that catching up to Tesla and China’s leading EV makers amounted to an existential struggle.
