Why Ford Might Have Just Dealt a Massive Blow to Tesla
It’s no secret that Tesla has been killing it when it comes to winning the hearts and minds of consumers when it comes to EV’s. They’ve been on quite the run these last few years, to say the very least. Last year they sold an impressive 367,500 cars, more than the previous two years combined.
They’ve continued surprising experts with their sales figures even in the midst of a global pandemic and, despite a lackluster demo for their fully electric Cybertruck about a year ago now, the brand still plans to hit projections and plans to have their Austin, Texas-based factory live by next May . Fans all around the world are so excited for the Cybertruck they’re even out here building half-baked look-alikes.
Even as direct competitors in the EV space like Rivian, Nikola and Hummer announce plans for fully electric trucks of their own, Tesla is still sitting pretty. The company still plans to have the Cybertruck available to consumers by late 2021 , beating all three previously mentioned brands to market.
So this seems inevitable, right? With approximately 20 percent of the U.S. auto market made up of pickup trucks and American consumers still buying trucks even in the midst of a devasting economic downturn, it’s fair to say that Tesla is in pole position to capture a good chunk of those consumers, right?
Well, Ford might have just snatched up some of that momentum for themselves this week. The automotive giant announced they are set to start production on a brand new, fully electric F-150, which is a huge deal.
For those who don’t already know, the F-150 has long been the king of pickups. Ford’s workhorse F-150 has been America’s best-selling pickup truck for 43 straight years, 39 of which it was the best selling vehicle, period. It’s fair to say that if there’s an undisputed king of America roads, it’s the F-150.
With climate change at the front of many people’s minds right now with an election looming and acres of the West Coast going up in smoke, it would make sense to just go with the tried and true electric cousin to the tested and reliable F-150 then to take a chance on a Tesla Cybertruck, right?
Ford has already claimed that the cost of operations in their fully EV trucks will be a fraction of the costs associated with their gasoline-powered cousins and have already started taking shots at its competition , calling the F-150 a “real” work truck, not a “lifestyle” pickup like Cybertruck.
So should you be selling off your Tesla stock or trying to cancel your pre-order for the Cybertruck? I’d say maybe hold your horses on all of that.
In the end, there’s still a lot of questions here that haven’t got answers to yet. The electric F-150 release date in mid-2022 is later than it’s competition from Tesla, Rivian and Hummer. By the time an EV F-150 is a reality, there might not be room in the market for it.
We’ll see a flurry of EV pickup trucks rolled out over the next few years and we still don’t really have no idea of who will buy them. Will traditional pickup buyers suddenly convert to EVs? We don’t really know yet. Will these EV pickups attract buyers who normally wouldn’t consider a truck? Another total unknown at this moment.
On the other hand, if even a portion of those currently driving F-150’s were to switch to the fully electric option, it would be a devastating blow to nearly every other EV pickup truck option out there.
Unfortunately this one feels like a bit of a waiting game for now. We’ll have to wait and see whether Ford or Tesla win the battle for the hearts, minds and hard-earned money of pickup truck owners everywhere.
