UBS Throws Cold Water On Ford’s “Model T Moment” Event

At 10:20 a.m. ET, Ford Motor Company will unveil its “Next Model T Moment,” which it describes on its website as “plans to design and assemble breakthrough electric vehicles in America.”

Today’s unveiling follows Ford’s July 30 earnings report that showed its electric vehicle unit lost $1.33 billion in the second quarter, even as its EV revenue rose to $2.4 billion. 

“This is a Model T moment for us at Ford,” CEO Jim Farley told analysts on the most recent earnings call, referring to the founder Henry Ford’s introduction of mass production for the 1908 Model T, a revolutionary innovation at the time that reduced the price of each vehicle significantly. 

Ahead of today’s event in Kentucky, UBS analysts told clients:

UBS analyst Patrick Hummel doesn’t expect any meaningful announcement at Ford’s Aug. 11 Kentucky event, despite the company having billed it as a “Model T moment”. While a low-cost EV line (including the mid-size pickup) may be confirmed, Patrick does not expect to see product, rather just an update on Ford’s plan to design and assemble EVs in the US. Meanwhile, Ford has delayed its EV pickup/van to focus on affordable EVs.

Automotive News reported the EV pickup (originally 2027) and van (originally 2026) are delayed to 2028. This is not surprising. CEO Jim Farley has been talking about more affordable (and smaller) EVs and, for larger vehicles, a push into hybrids, PHEVs and EREVs. The question for the focus on smaller EVs, including potentially a Ranger sized EV, is whether there is true consumer pull for these products amid removal of the $7.5k consumer EV credit and a competitive landscape filled with more compelling non-EV alternatives.

Watch live here… 

. . .