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Ford scraps plans for a three-row electric SUV to focus on hybrids
Ford Motor Co. is scrapping plans for a three-row all-electric sport-utility vehicle, saying that it will instead focus on manufacturing hybrids. The shift comes as consumers are growing cooler toward EVs, and instead are expressing more enthusiasm for other types of fuel-efficient vehicles.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker said Wednesday its new plan is designed to “speed customer adoption” of more affordable vehicles with longer ranges, amid softening demand for EVs. Ford said it plans to develop a new family of three-row electrified SUVs that will include hybrid technologies.
According to AAA, nearly two-thirds of potential car buyers said they were unlikely to purchase an EV for their next vehicle. The vehicles are pricier than their gas counterparts, and can give drivers range anxiety, or the fear their EV might run out of juice before they can reach a charging station.
With sales of EVs softening, the national average price for a new EV has slipped 9% to $55,252 from 2023, according to Kelley Blue Book.
“We learned a lot as the No. 2 U.S. electric vehicle brand about what customers want and value, and what it takes to match the best in the world with cost-efficient design, and we have built a plan that gives our customers maximum choice and plays to our strengths,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement Wednesday.
Ford also announced plans to launch an electric commercial van in 2026, plus two new pickup trucks in 2026, in addition to other vehicles. Ford has pledged to manufacture vehicles that generate lower levels of carbon dioxide emissions.
Ford cited stiff competition in the EV market from Chinese automakers, as well as EV consumers’ price sensitivity, as reasons for the pivot.
“In addition, today’s electric vehicle consumers are more cost-conscious than early adopters, looking to electric vehicles as a practical way to save money on fuel and maintenance, as well as time by charging at home,” the company said in a statement. “This, coupled with scores of new electric vehicle choices hitting the market over the next 12 months and rising compliance requirements, has amplified pricing pressures.”
The company said it will take a non-cash charge of $400 million for writing down the value of manufacturing equipment designed to build the scrapped electric, three-row SUV. It may also face additional expenses of up to $1.5 billion for its shift away from EVs, it added.
At least 11 employees were taken to hospitals and residents were urged to shelter in place on Tuesday after an explosion at a Louisville, Kentucky, business.
The Louisville Metro Emergency Services reported on social media a “hazardous materials incident” at 1901 Payne St., in Louisville. The address belongs to a facility operated by Givaudan Sense Colour, a manufacturer of food colorings for soft drinks and other products, according to officials and online records.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said emergency teams responded to the blast around 3 p.m. News outlets reported that neighbors heard what sounded like an explosion coming from the business. Overhead news video footage showed an industrial building with a large hole in its roof.
WLKY-TV
“The cause at this point of the explosion is unknown,” Greenberg said in a news conference. No one died in the explosion, he added.
Greenberg said officials spoke to employees inside the plant. “They have initially conveyed that everything was normal activity when the explosion occurred,” he said.
The Louisville Fire Department said in a post on the social platform X that multiple agencies were responding to a “large-scale incident.”
The Louisville Metro Emergency Services first urged people within a mile of the business to shelter in place, but that order was lifted in the afternoon. An evacuation order for the two surrounding blocks around the site of the explosion was still in place Tuesday afternoon.
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A rare square 37-carat emerald owned by the Aga Khan fetched nearly $9 million at auction in Geneva on Tuesday, making it the world’s most expensive green stone.
Sold by Christie’s, the Cartier diamond and emerald brooch, which can also be worn as a pendant, dethrones a piece of jewelry made by the fashion house Bulgari, which Richard Burton gave as a wedding gift to fellow actor Elizabeth Taylor, as the most precious emerald.
In 1960, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan commissioned Cartier to set the emerald in a brooch with 20 marquise-cut diamonds for British socialite Nina Dyer, to whom he was briefly married.
Dyer then auctioned off the emerald to raise money for animals in 1969.
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images
By chance that was Christie’s very first such sale in Switzerland on the shores of Lake Geneva, with the emerald finding its way back to the 110th edition this year.
It was bought by jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels before passing a few years later into the hands of Harry Winston, nicknamed the “King of Diamonds.”
“Emeralds are hot right now, and this one ticks all the boxes,” said Christie’s EMEA Head of Jewellery Max Fawcett. “…We might see an emerald of this quality come up for sale once every five or six years.”
Also set with diamonds, the previous record-holder fetched $6.5 million at an auction of part of Hollywood legend Elizabeth Taylor’s renowned jewelry collection in New York.
