Earlier this 12 months, the Ford Mustang Mach-E was not just one of the slowest-selling electric vehicles in the U.S., but additionally one of the slowest-selling latest cars period. It’s gotten to the point where Ford has resorted to extreme markdowns to sell them, and the results have confirmed something that’s becoming increasingly clear: demand for electric vehicles is being held back by poor affordability.
Talking to data scientists at Cloud Theory, Automotive news reports that the Mach-E’s sales rate has essentially tripled, with inventory down nine percent over the past month. Specifically, the Mach-E’s turn rate (described as the percentage of cars sold in a given time period) increased from seven to 33 percent. Ford also reported a 64 percent increase in sales in February, though that was up from January, when sales dropped by half. The Mach-E’s maneuverability also reportedly continues to be below the industry average of 45%.
Still, the Mach-E’s rebound provides useful insight into the nature of last 12 months’s hotly debated EV sales plateau. This suggests that the demand problem was simply oversupply in the premium market and that there’s untapped demand at a cheaper price point. Of course, Ford and its EV skunkworks team are already working on an electric vehicle geared toward this segment, which will likely be key to overcoming Tesla’s sales volume and the growing threat from Chinese EVs. While the federal government is attempting to keep Chinese electric vehicles at bay, it’s only a matter of time before they hit the market. The best defense appears to be our own cheap electric vehicle.
Credit : www.thedrive.com
