Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) shares are down 32% in the past two years. General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) stock is down 20%. Shares in Stellantis N.V. (NYSE: STLA), which owns Chrysler, are up 34%. Shares in Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) are up 20%. What happened?
Ford, among the group, has had several fumbles by management. The most apparent is its failure in the electric vehicle (EV) sector. The company said it would invest $30 billion in EVs by 2025. It keeps pulling back from that statement. Recently, it has not only pushed investment into the future, but it cut back production on its F-150 Lightning EV flagship. Ford sells about 700,000 F-150s a year, making it the top-selling vehicle in America. It should have been able to convert some of those to EV models. Instead, it sold less than 3,000 of them in January. (Check out the most fuel-efficient pickup trucks.)
Ford made ambitious claims and did not hit them. That is something that angers investors. Executive Chair Bill Ford said the Lightning launch was the most important in his career at the company. If so, how should Wall Street look at his entire tenure?
Ford lost in its battle with the United Auto Workers (UAW) over pay and benefits. This was true of Chrysler and GM as well. Nevertheless, it pulled down expectations for all three companies, damaging their share prices. Ford said the cost of the contract over its life would be $8.8 billion.
There is a sense that after a great promise two years ago and ambitions that excited investors, Ford is trapped with high costs and a lineup of EVs few people will buy.
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