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Print 11 comment(s) - last by Mint.. on Feb 21 at 5:56 PM
Ford isn't expecting huge numbers for the Focus EV this year

Ford recently announced that it expects the coming year to be slow for sales of the Focus EV despite the fact that the automaker has certified 700 additional dealers to sell the vehicle. The automaker expects that the Focus EV will account for no more than 5% of its total hybrid and electric vehicle sales moving forward. Last year Ford sold only 685 Focus EVs accounting for about 2% of its hybrid and electric vehicle sales.

The increase from 200 electric vehicle certified dealers to 900 was done to help growth and increase availability for the Fusion and C-Max Energi hybrids, but the move also means the availability for the slow selling Focus electric will be expanded as well.


"Overall, it's meeting our expectations in the marketplace," said C.J. O'Donnell, Ford's group marketing manager of electrification, in a telephone interview. "I think as we expand the footprint, by definition, we will get more customers."

Ford notes that about 90% of the Focus Electric vehicle sales have come from California. That means outside the state of California availability in the remainder of the country has resulted in fewer than 100 Focus Electric purchases.
 
Ford has significantly discounted the Focus EV, but the discounts haven't spurred sales the way Ford hoped.

Source: Detroit News


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RE: $39,200 starting price - 76 mile range
By Mint on 2/21/2013 12:29:50 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
These stupid standard features probably add 10-12k to the starting price not to mention reducing driving range by added weight/electricity draw.
That's a gross exaggeration. Ford may tout the feature to be worth that much, but they cost maybe $2k at most, with leather taking up the bulk of that.


RE: $39,200 starting price - 76 mile range
By tayb on 2/21/2013 12:51:31 PM , Rating: 2
If Ford sells the add-ons for that price then it would stand to reason that without those add-ons the price would be substantially lower. It doesn't really matter how much it costs Ford to install those add-ons just as it doesn't really matter how much it technically costs to manufacture an iPhone. You don't buy things for those prices anyway.

You could make an argument that without the high margin add-ons the car is not profitable but I also have a hard time believing that. I would further counter that by pointing out economies of scale.


By Mint on 2/21/2013 5:56:01 PM , Rating: 2
Look, I don't know for sure why Ford is overcharging for the Focus EV, but it certainly isn't because of AC, power windows, or a stereo.

Nissan agrees with you, thinking that economies of scale and a lower end model lets them make more money and establish marketshare. Ford disagrees.


"Intel is investing heavily (think gazillions of dollars and bazillions of engineering man hours) in resources to create an Intel host controllers spec in order to speed time to market of the USB 3.0 technology." -- Intel blogger Nick Knupffer

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