Until a decade ago, the magic word of the car industry was "autonomous" the car manufacturers made sure to incorporate this word in almost every communication about a new and/or future model. Startup companies that managed to make a Lego car drive to the end of the cubicle and back without falling to the floor were bought for tens of millions of dollars.
The money flowed as only the automotive industry and the hi-tech industry know how to flow, and then came the realization phase, the reality, the one that happens outside the luxurious offices. There it more or less stopped. Apart from a few applications that are at the lower end of the big promises and here and there some future plan, the car manufacturers have become disillusioned with the autonomous world and understand that behind and behind the big buzz that everyone wanted to be a part of, the reality is still the bread and butter products.
Until four years ago it seemed that the story was repeating itself, only with electric cars. Everyone wanted an electric car. And everyone also had one in the pipeline at one stage or another of development, but with the spike in demand for streetcars, they all pressed the gas pedal, excuse me, the electricity - and rushed to release products, yes, some of them weren't quite baked to the end, but everyone wanted to get on this electric train and in time . Then came 2023 and 2024 and quite a few manufacturers discovered that after the initial demand that definitely proved that there is a place for electric cars and that it was not planned - they are here to stay - the business slowed down significantly and the market for streetcars is less big than they initially thought. Add to that the fact that every market the Chinese enter immediately enters price battles that erode profitability, and here is a good enough reason to go back to the basics.
And against this background, Ford announces in a statement that it is canceling its plans for a large electric 7-seater vehicle. Instead of focusing on electricity alone, it will spread its resources over hybrid passenger cars and only in the future will it integrate it into electric commercial vehicles. In this way, the manufacturer that last year announced the establishment of a battery factory in a Chinese partnership, will be able to produce more units of profit over the resources it will invest in the production of the batteries.
In general, Ford is focusing its attention on the profitability of the batteries and is also considering moving the production of the batteries used in the Mustang Mach E from Poland to the United States. This means that the 7-seater vehicle that is already in the pipeline will be used with a hybrid and not electric drive only. It may also be used by Ford's F-series vans for the first time, after already getting an electric version. A new generation of electric vans will not be launched until 2027, officially so that it can make use of cheaper batteries that will be available by then, practically in the hope that by then the demand for such tools will increase.
It's cold out there: Volvo extends the life of the XC90
Meanwhile, in the Sweden-China axis, the Volvo car manufacturer controlled by Geely and which was one of the first to declare the end of the gasoline era for it, announces that it is extending the production period of its XC90. The large 7-seater crossover will not be replaced by the EX90 as planned, but will be sold alongside it. On September 4, Volvo will reveal an updated XC90 with only hybrid drive units from now on, meaning farewell to the 2.0-liter gasoline engine and the excellent diesel. It will keep it in production until 2030, when it will switch to electric drive only, or so it has previously stated. Not much is known about the facelift, but it is assumed that it will draw quite a few features from the EX90 in its exterior. What will surely have to change is the appearance of its passenger compartment, which, after all, is found in a vehicle introduced exactly a decade ago, in 2014.
Both in the case of Volvo and in the case of Ford, and you can be sure that we will hear more about other manufacturers that are slowing down in the electrical sector, there is a lot of logic. Despite the general atmosphere according to which "everyone is going electric", and this is certainly the atmosphere that has dominated the global (and local) market in the last three years, for manufacturers that do not receive massive support and subsidies from any unit of the government like in China, or those whose product offering is spread over a multitude of markets all over the world, With dozens of models in a variety of categories - switching to electric production only is a mistake that could be costly. Because they will not only be forced to "throw away" tens of billions that they invested in the development, improvement and production of gasoline engines, they have to produce more expensive cars, which will cost more to the consumer who may not buy them and in the meantime their profit margins will shrink.
On the other hand, a considerable part of the large and traditional car manufacturers, those bound by conservatism and avoiding risks, have already found themselves being overtaken in the rotation by Tesla, for example, or the Chinese in the electrical field. If the moderation in demand for electric cars turns out to be a momentary slowdown and demand resumes in full force, they may find themselves facing a significant onslaught and with an empty cartridge.