Ford sees "EV inventory pileup" as a return to normal, and its EV sales growth indicates it may be correct

Recently, a number of news stories have popped up about Ford Mustang Mach-E units "piling up" at Ford dealerships in the US, with many jumping to the conclusion that supply is far exceeding demand for its EVs because demand is low. A recent response from Ford Model e's VP of electric vehicle programs, Darren Palmer claims that the uptick in dealer inventory is merely a return to normal, rather than an indication of a doomed EV platform.

"It’s a little premature to be concerned about a pile-up. We’re just loading up our dealers. Until now, every Mach-E (and Lightning) was backordered and people had to wait months for them. Now, we’ll have more, and have better deals." - Darren Palmer, Ford Model e VP of electric vehicle programs, speaking to The Detroit Bureau

As far as reasoning goes, the Ford exec may have a point. The last few years have been unprecedented, both in terms of a supply chain collapse and the massive EV boom. Palmer did acknowledge that there was a lull in EV adoption recently, adding "We’re in Moore’s Chasm in the adoption curve. There were the early adopters at the beginning. Now we’re moving into the mainstream. But that may take a little time to get going. We think this is a little valley. But customers who have them love them."

As far as sales numbers go, Ford's electric vehicle division actually seems rather healthy, with an almost 60% uptick in Mustang Mach-E sales in Q2 over the first quarter of the year. Overall, Ford's BEV sales were up close to 37% over the previous quarter.

Though Ford's raw sales numbers fall somewhat short of Tesla's impressive performance  — Ford sold 14,843 BEVs in Q2 2023, compared to Tesla's over 175,000 units  — Ford's quarter-over-quarter EV sales growth of 35.5% is marginally ahead of Tesla's 34.8% increase.

That said, while sales have continued to grow, an increase in dealer inventory may lead to further EV price cuts, which would be a welcome relief for buyers looking to break into an otherwise prohibitively-expensive market. Ford, perhaps in response to a changing market — not to mention the upcoming Tesla Cybertruck — has reduced the price of its Ford F-150 Lightning EV and introduced a new variant of the Mustang Mach-E to generate some excitement.

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