Ford ends electric car distribution plan | Wilnesh News

Ford is ending a controversial electric vehicle dealer program that initially required store owners to invest more than $1 million to sell electric vehicles.

Ford CEO Jim Farley announced the “Electric Vehicle Certification” program in September 2022 amid strong vehicle demand, low supply and industry-wide optimism about all-electric cars and trucks. However, this optimism fell short of expectations.

Sales of electric vehicles from Ford and other automakers are growing, but at a much slower pace than many expected. This has led automakers to delay or cancel future electric vehicles and investments.

“The world has changed,” Marin Gjaja, chief operating officer of Ford’s Model E electric vehicle business, said at a media briefing on Thursday. “Growth has slowed.”

Gjaja said the Model e dealer program, which includes about half of Ford’s 2,800 U.S. dealers, “is coming to an end” as market conditions change and conversations with dealers begin. The company faces lawsuits from dealers over the scheme.

Instead, Ford will open electric vehicle sales to all dealers in an effort to increase sales of its all-electric cars and trucks.

“It allows us to open electric vehicle sales and services to more dealers,” Jiajia said. “We think this will help us increase sales.”

Dealers will be required to make some investments in charging, training and other EV-related expenses, but not as much as in previous plans, which included an expected investment of $500,000 to $1.2 million.

Jaja said these initial estimates are high. The average investment by dealers participating in the entire program is about $600,000, he said.