The Luxury Electric Vehicle Is in Trouble

 

The Luxury Electric Vehicle Is in Trouble

Sales of expensive battery-powered cars like the Ford F-150 Lightning have stalled, forcing automakers to slow production and offer more affordable vehicles.

Ford Motor has stopped making its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck, which starts at $55,000, and won’t say when or whether production will restart.

Credit...Brittany Greeson for The New York Times

 

By Neal E. Boudette

Nov. 13, 2025

Just a few years ago, Ford Motor thought it had a big hit on its hands with the F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck.

But as of the end of September, Congress and President Trump eliminated federal tax credits for the purchase of electric vehicles, leading to a steep drop in sales, especially for large, pricey models like the Lightning.

Now, the Lightning’s future is in doubt. Ford has stopped making the truck, whose price starts at $55,000 and can rise to more than $85,000 for premium versions with added features, and it won’t say when or whether production will restart.

The Lightning’s struggles are part of a bigger shift. For many years, many of the electric vehicles that Americans bought were luxury models, like the Tesla Model S, the GMC Hummer and the Porsche Taycan, which all typically sell for more than $80,000.

But that’s changing fast. Sales of expensive electric vehicles have stalled, and buyers are gravitating toward models like the Chevrolet Equinox and Hyundai Ioniq 5, which have starting prices of around $35,000.

“When the subsidy went away, the higher-dollar vehicles really began to slow down,” said Tim Hovik, whose dealership, San Tan Ford in Gilbert, Ariz., once sold dozens of Lightnings a month.

Like Ford, General Motors has halted production of its Hummer EV. The Michigan factory that made that model and others is supposed to restart in January, but will run only one eight-hour shift a day instead of two. G.M. is also slowing production of electric Cadillacs.

“It’s really going to be into early next year when we’re going to know what true E.V. demand is,” G.M.’s chief executive, Mary T. Barra, said in a conference call last month.

Tesla, the electric vehicle pioneer, has significantly cut back production of its three luxury vehicles — the Model S, the Model X, and the Cybertruck. Honda has discontinued the Acura ZDX sport utility vehicle. Stellantis canceled an electric Ram pickup before it hit showrooms.

Rivian, a newer automaker, is slowing production of its premium electric S.U.V.s and pickups and is preparing for a lower-priced model that is expected next year. The company recently laid off about 600 workers and lost $1.2 billion in the third quarter.

European automakers are also changing their plans because of the shifting industry landscape and the import tariffs Mr. Trump has imposed.

Mercedes-Benz had been selling electric versions of its luxury sedans and S.U.V.s in the United States but recently said it would stop importing them. Volkswagen has slowed production of the ID.Buzz, an upscale electric van that’s made in Germany.

Porsche, the German sports-car maker controlled by Volkswagen, announced in September that it was halting development of several new electric cars and would spend heavily to add new gasoline-powered models. The shifts in its strategy have not been good for the company’s finances. Porsche had an operating loss of nearly one billion euros ($1.1 billion) in the third quarter.

“We have seen a clear drop in demand for exclusive battery electric cars, and we are taking that into account,” Oliver Blume, chief executive of Volkswagen and Porsche, said in a conference call in September.

For most Western automakers, the decline of the electric vehicle market has a silver lining. Except for Tesla, most have been losing money on such models, with the largest losses from luxury models. But now fewer sales will mean smaller losses.

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Tesla has significantly cut back production of its three luxury vehicles, including the Cybertruck.Credit...Mikayla Whitmore for The New York Times

In October, U.S. electric vehicle sales fell about 33 percent from a year earlier, to 64,500, according to estimates by J.D. Power. Sales of the F-150 Lightning fell 12 percent, to 1,543 vehicles. Acura sold just 25 ZDXs, down from more than 1,200 a year earlier.

“A lot of people thought that the high-end, luxury E.V. segment was going to be sustainable and it would continue to grow,” said Jessica Caldwell, vice president of insights at Edmunds, a market researcher. “But with all the changes that have come to the industry, it’s just not as big as we thought.”

While the $7,500 tax credit was a relatively small discount on luxury cars, it helped automakers come up with lease deals that attracted affluent car buyers. Another factor in leases is the expected value of a vehicle after two or three years on the road. The values of previously leased electric models have been falling, and that has pushed up monthly payments on new leases.

Mr. Hovik, the Ford dealer in Arizona, said about 75 percent of the electric models he was selling were leased. “But without a strong lease proposition on those vehicles, they became very much on the high end from an affordability standpoint,” he said.

His dealership has about 75 Lightnings, and he’s hoping Ford will offer incentives to help him sell them off. Other manufacturers have already jacked up discounts. Mercedes is offering discounts of $10,000 or more on some electric models and as much as $50,000 on a Maybach EQS, which has a starting price of $180,000.

The move away from expensive electric models is also good for consumers who cannot afford them even with big discounts. Around a dozen electric models now start at less than $40,000. And Nissan and G.M. recently introduced versions of the Leaf and the Chevrolet Bolt that cost less than $30,000.

As for the Lightning, it was a milestone vehicle when it was introduced in 2022 — an electric version of the top-selling vehicle in the United States.

Ford set up an assembly line near Detroit and hoped to sell 150,000 a year. Initial demand was so strong that Ford increased production in 2023. But demand soon began to falter, partly because the company raised prices significantly to make up for higher costs. In 2024, Ford sold 33,000 Lightnings.The decision to halt Lightning production was also influenced by a fire at a supplier plant that produces aluminum for F-150 trucks. Facing a tight supply of aluminum, Ford decided to use the material it has for gasoline models of the truck.

A Ford spokeswoman said the company has an ample inventory of Lightnings as the supplier recovers from the fire, and in the meantime it is focused on producing gas-powered and hybrid F-150s.

While Ford won’t commit to bringing the Lightning back, its executives have said they are working on new, lower-cost models. The first — a pickup that is smaller than the Lightning — will arrive in 2027. The company says the truck’s starting price will be around $30,000.

Neal E. Boudette, a Michigan-based reporter for The Times, has been covering the auto industry for more than two decades.