Electric cars are secretly very premium. It costs the manufacturer 5,500 Euro more per car to make it than what they earn for it.
In itself, our (okay, my) general rule for when a car can be premium is clear. This must then, at least in principle, be RWD. AWD is sometimes possible in special cases. But assuming a setup in which most of the power goes to the rear wheels and the weight distribution is not 60 percent on the nose. But the purest driving is of course RWD. Drifting, no drive responses in the steering wheel, rear wheels that push forward and front wheels that only steer. That's how it goes.
However, there is another aspect that is very premium. After all, premium is a term that also refers to 'added value' and 'a high-quality product'. And what could be more high-quality than a product that is so good that it actually costs the manufacturer more than it yields? No company offers so much value for money like a company that makes something beautiful and yet regularly goes bankrupt. Consider, for example, BBS, Aston Martin or Spyker.
Now it is the case that with electric cars, almost all manufacturers sell their cars below cost price. That's partly why they have such a hard time with the 'turn'. Ford, GM, VAG, they all feel the pain of the sky-high investments that have to be made and that are not immediately recouped.
After all, the idea is that this payback will happen in a more distant future. When production becomes cheaper and the largest development costs are behind us. The late Sergio Marchionne said this when the first Fiat 500E appeared. And that was about 10 years ago. The problem is: for most manufacturers (actually everyone except Tesla) the time has still not come for profit to be made.
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), not the least in the field of Consulting, has now calculated that manufacturers in America make an average loss of 6,000 dollars on every electric car sold. And to think, Ford once failed to install an $11 part on the Ford Pinto, which could have prevented them from exploding sometimes. Andrew Loh of the BCG say that it is doubtful how long this can be maintained:
Whether automakers have the “stomach” to keep investing “until they get to the level of scale and efficiency where they can actually turn a profit” is a question. Automakers differ in their approaches to EVs, but most have felt the punch of slowing sales growth. Toyota, for example, will buy credits to meet emissions regulations, choosing to base its EV plans on customer demand. Ford, which less than two years ago said it wanted to eventually challenge Tesla in EV sales, has cut production of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup and halted shipments for an undisclosed issue.
Andrew Loh, has given some advice
The percentage of people opting for an EV is growing, but much less quickly than expected. Analysts had expected that 70 percent more EVs would be sold in 'Murica last year. But it became approximately 50 percent more. Exponential growth will also not materialize this year for the time being. According to BCG, there is interest in EVs, but only under strict conditions.
Nearly 40 percent of 3,000 US consumers surveyed by Boston Consulting Group in January said they intend to purchase an EV as their next vehicle. But they expressed strict requirements to make the jump. EV intenders want 20-minute charging times, a 350-mile driving range and a price of $50,000, according to the group's report on the survey.
Andrew Loh, claims customers have notes on their vocals
Only the Tesla Model 3 and Hyundai Ioniq 6 meet these requirements to date. So things are not going to go smoothly for the time being. No wonder that the POTUS is now also putting his money where his mouth is. Whose deed.
This article Manufacturers lose 5,500 Euro per electric car sold first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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