Automotive News Europe — 2024-09-09
Automotive Industry
Automakers that have recently tempered their targets for battery-electric car sales include Toyota, Ford, GM and Volvo.
Automakers are rolling back plans for battery-electric cars as buyers shun EVs because of their often hefty sticker prices compared with combustion engine cars and worries about whether they will reach their destination amid a poor charging infrastructure in most countries.
These automakers have recently tempered their expectations in chronological order starting with the most recent:
Toyota
Toyota has slashed its electric vehicle production plans for 2026 by a third, the Nikkei business daily reported on 6 September 2024. In response to the report, Toyota said there was no change to its intention to produce 1.5 m BEVs a year by 2026 and 3.5 m by 2030. It said, however, that the figures were not targets but benchmarks for shareholders. In the next three years, Toyota and Lexus plan to add 10 new BEVs, including models on a new platform and others on evolved versions of the current e-TNGA architecture.
Volvo
The automaker on 4 September 2024 scrapped its target of going all electric by 2030 and said it expected to still be offering some hybrid models at that time. It aims for 90-100% of cars sold by 2030 to be BEVs or plug-in hybrids, while up to 10% would be so-called mild hybrids.
Volkswagen
Volkswagen has not changed its 2030 targets for BEVs to make up 70% of sales in Europe and 50% in the US and China, despite repeatedly warning about slowing demand. However, its group technology chief, Thomas Schmall, said in August 2024 that VW's plans for new battery factories were not set in stone and depended on the EV demand.
Ford
Ford in August 2024 lowered the share of planned annual capital spending dedicated to BEVs to about 30% from 40%, given its increasing emphasis on hybrids, and said it was killing a planned electric SUV and pushing back a new electric version of its best-selling pickup. In May 2024, the US automaker said it was rethinking its plan to sell only full-electric cars in Europe by 2030 as EV sales fail to take off in the region.
Porsche
The premium brand in July 2024 watered down its EV ambitions, saying it could only hit its previously communicated aim of 80% full-electric sales by 2030 if demand and developments in the EV sector warranted it.
Renault
In early 2022, CEO Luca De Meo said all Renault brand's sales in Europe would be full-electric by 2030, but two years later the target was changed when the brand CEO Fabrice Cambolive told Automotive News Europe that Renault was seeing a dual strategy of offering BEVs and combustion-engine cars for the next 10 years, thus beyond 2030.
General Motors
In June 2024, GM cut its BEV production forecast for 2024 and in July 2024 it declined to reiterate its forecast to produce 1 m BEVs in North America by the end of 2025.
Mercedes-Benz
The automaker said in February 2024 that sales of EVs, including hybrids, would account for up to 50% of the total by 2030, five years later than its forecast in 2021. It has also slowed its battery cell capacity plans as the EV demand did not pick up.
Bentley
Bentley had aimed for an all-BEV lineup by 2030, but in March then-CEO Adrian Hallmark said the plan had been pushed back to focus more on plug-in hybrid models.
Aston Martin
The automaker in February 2024 said it expects to launch its first new-generation BEV in 2026, from earlier plans to launch in 2025. "The consumer demand (for BEVs), certainly at an Aston Martin price point, is not what we thought it was going to be two years ago," Executive Chairman Lawrence Stroll said at the time.