EV inventories are on the rise. Some of that can be attributed to automakers finally catching up with production and Ford Authority says that Ford doesn’t see its EVs piling up on dealer lots as a bad thing.
Buyers that have been in the market for either of the Lightning or Mach-E may be surprised to find that they can go pick one up at their local Ford dealer. Early adopters waited months or over a year to get their hands on the EVs as Ford couldn’t build them fast enough. Now there are thousands for sale that dealers can’t move.
Ford even went so far as slashing prices on the Lighting a few months after it received its fourth price hike. While most automakers would be concerned about sales slowing and inventory rising, Ford sees this as a positive.
Ford Model e’s VP of electric vehicle programs Darren Palmer says that its too soon to say that EV inventory is piling up. The company is just simply ramping up production and making sure that it’s dealers have the inventory that they’ve been hungry for.
It’s a little premature to be concerned about a pile-up. We’re just loading up our dealers. Until now, every Mach-E (and Lightning) was backordered and people had to wait months for them. Now, we’ll have more, and have better deals. We’re in Moore’s Chasm in the adoption curve. There were the early adopters at the beginning. Now we’re moving into the mainstream. But that may take a little time to get going. We think this is a little valley. But customers who have them love them.
With billions being invested in everything from new models and tech from automakers to charging access by government entities at every level, companies like Ford literally can’t afford to have people become disinterested in EVs especially given the $US3.6 billion hit the company just took. With Ford Authority saying EV inventories were sitting at a 103 supply at the end of June, there’s more than a few things that need to be straightened before people get people interested in buying an EV again.