Ford EV Loss Widens to $1.06 Billion as Vehicle Volume Falls 31%

Ford is losing less money on electric vehicles than it did a year ago, yet the losses are again moving in the wrong direction quarter to quarter. The company’s Model e division posted a $1.06 billion loss in the third quarter of 2026 as vehicle wholesales fell 31%, according to Ford’s October 28 results update.

The loss improved by $352 million from $1.41 billion in the same quarter last year. However, it widened from $919 million in the second quarter and $777 million in the first. That makes the third quarter Ford Model e’s second consecutive quarter-over-quarter deterioration, even though the result was better than the $1.17 billion loss analysts had expected.

The apparent contradiction reflects two changes happening simultaneously. Ford is reducing its exposure to loss-making first-generation electric vehicles and spending less on incentives, which improves the year-over-year comparison. At the same time, it is absorbing higher development and manufacturing costs for its next vehicle architecture and Ford Energy battery-storage business.

Lower volume helped one comparison but hurt another

Model e wholesales dropped from 50,000 vehicles a year earlier to 34,000, while revenue declined at the same 31% rate, from $1.8 billion to $1.2 billion. Ford attributed the lower volume to discontinuing the F-150 Lightning and adjusting Mustang Mach-E production to customer demand.

Ford’s earnings bridge credited approximately $200 million of the year-over-year improvement to volume and product mix. Selling fewer first-generation vehicles can reduce total losses when each additional unit carries unfavorable economics. Another $200 million improvement came from net pricing, primarily because Ford spent less on incentives.

Those gains were partly offset by a $100 million increase in costs as the company invested more in next-generation products and Ford Energy. Model e’s loss margin deteriorated by 7.4 percentage points to negative 86.5%, illustrating how sharply reduced revenue can weigh on a business still carrying substantial fixed development and industrial costs.

Using Ford’s rounded figures, the division lost about $31,100 for every vehicle wholesaled during the quarter. That compares with approximately $28,200 a year earlier and $32,800 in the second quarter. The calculation is useful for tracking the scale of the segment’s losses, but it is not a direct measure of the loss on each vehicle.

Model e covers more than vehicle sales. Its reported results also include electric-vehicle and digital-technology development, software, connected-vehicle work and Ford’s stationary battery-storage operation. Certain electric vehicles produced for Ford Pro are also reflected in that division’s external sales rather than Model e’s. Those accounting boundaries make a simple loss-per-vehicle figure broader than an individual product’s manufacturing margin.

New platforms keep near-term spending elevated

Ford retained its forecast for an approximately $4 billion Model e loss for all of 2026. The division lost $2.75 billion on $3.5 billion in revenue and 97,000 wholesales during the first nine months. Reaching the annual forecast would imply a fourth-quarter loss of roughly $1.25 billion, which would be another sequential increase.

The full-year outlook includes about $1 billion in incremental investment for Ford’s Universal Electric Vehicle platform and Ford Energy. The vehicle platform is intended to underpin the planned Fathom electric pickup, which Ford expects to launch in the fourth quarter of 2027. Ford said it had produced more than 5,000 unicastings for the pickup, an indication that manufacturing-development work is progressing even as its commercial outcome remains ahead.

Ford Energy adds another industrial transition inside the same reporting segment. The business is developing battery energy-storage systems for data centers, utilities and commercial customers. Ford plans to spend about $2 billion over two years retooling its former BlueOval SK plant in Kentucky for storage-system production. The company says it is working toward 20 gigawatt-hours of annual capacity by the end of 2027 and a full-capacity production rate in the third quarter of 2028.

This investment explains why Model e’s current results cannot be read solely as a verdict on demand for Ford electric vehicles. The segment is simultaneously winding down or resizing first-generation products, funding a replacement vehicle architecture and converting battery-manufacturing assets for a new storage market.

Ford’s broader business remained profitable in the quarter, reporting $49.5 billion in revenue, $2 billion in net income and $2.7 billion in adjusted earnings before interest and taxes. Within that companywide result, Model e remains a substantial drag and Ford’s target of making the division profitable by 2029 now depends on whether its lower-cost vehicle platform and battery-storage expansion can convert today’s investment into enough volume and margin.

By Thomas Caldwell — AMI’s senior editor for mechanical and mobility engineering, covering vehicle electronics, systems integration, electrification, chassis systems, propulsion, and safety policy.