Ford Model e loses $1.1bn in Q3 as EV revenue slides 33%

Ford's Model e division posted a $1.1 billion loss for the third quarter, a $300 million improvement on the $1.4 billion deficit recorded a year earlier but still a deeply negative result for the automaker's passenger EV business. Revenue in the segment fell 33 per cent year-on-year to $1.2 billion, from $1.8 billion in the comparable quarter of 2025, when US buyers rushed to purchase EVs ahead of the expiry of federal tax incentives.

The segment's EBIT margin settled at –86.5 per cent for the quarter. Ford reported approximate sales volumes of around 34,000 battery-electric vehicles, down 32 per cent from roughly 50,000 units in Q3 2025. Previous quarters of the current year showed broadly similar levels of sales and revenue.

What does Model e actually cover?

The division includes only fully electric passenger cars — the Puma Gen-E, the Cologne-built Explorer and the Mustang Mach-E. Electric commercial vehicles such as the E-Transit sit under the Ford Pro division instead. That distinction matters when reading the numbers, because Model e's problems are concentrated in the US market, particularly since the Trump administration eliminated the $7,500 federal tax credit for EV purchases as of 30 September 2025.

Ford has already responded in kind. It discontinued the electric F-150 Lightning pickup in autumn 2025, though stock vehicles remained available at dealerships into this year. In December 2025, the company announced extensive write-downs of $19.5 billion, primarily in its EV business, after its expectations for the ramp-up of electromobility failed to materialise.

Why the loss widened anyway

Ford attributes the slightly higher loss compared with the first half of 2026 to increased investment costs for next-generation products and the establishment of its new subsidiary, Ford Energy. The battery storage business is one of two strategic pillars the company now emphasises.

The other is cost discipline on current hardware plus speed to market on the next one. Ford said it plans to "further optimise" the profitability of its first-generation EVs while accelerating the launch of affordable, highly scalable electric vehicles based on the Ford Universal EV platform (UEV).

For the full year, Ford disclosed at the beginning of the year that it expects a Model e EBIT loss of $4–4.5 billion, following a $4.8 billion loss in 2025. After three of four quarters, the 2026 deficit stands at $3.5 billion — which suggests the guidance could well be met.

How big is the problem for Ford overall?

Model e currently represents only a fraction of Ford's total business. Company-wide revenue in the quarter reached $49.5 billion, with adjusted EBIT of $2.7 billion. The EV division is a drag, not an existential one at group level.

What does this change for practitioners? For suppliers tied to first-generation Ford EV programs, the emphasis on "optimising profitability" signals continued pressure on piece prices and volumes rather than growth. For those positioned on the UEV platform ramp or in stationary battery storage, the priority shifts to launch timing and Ford Energy's build-out.

Watch next: whether the full-year loss lands inside the $4–4.5 billion guidance, the first concrete UEV-platform launch dates, and early order intake for Ford Energy's storage products — the two businesses Ford is betting can replace a segment still losing $12,000-plus per vehicle equivalent on an EBIT-margin basis.