Last year was a strange one in the car market, with certain segments exploding and others faltering. Supply chains, though more robust than during the pandemic, still caused all sorts of problems for automakers. One of the unanticipated outcomes from all of this distortion was that the EV Mustang Mach-E outsold the regular, gas-powered Mustang for the first time ever over a full year.
Is this the rise of the EV Mustang and the death of the ICE-powered Mustang? Not quite. It’s a little more complicated and interesting than all that. For all the excitement over hybrids, there are still pockets of growth for EV automakers. In particular, the strength of its EVs helped propel Volvo to its best year ever and close to its goal of selling 800,000 cars globally. This will also benefit Volvo as it takes in money from automakers facing carbon-related credits.
Volvo won’t benefit as much as Tesla, which could make more than $1 billion from European carmakers desperate to avoid EU fines. Does this mean there’s good money in electric cars? Not for everyone, which is why Honda is at least considering slowing down its EV investments a bit until it’s all sorted.
Long Live All Mustangs
I’m just going to say it: I love Mustangs. I don’t really believe in objectivity in journalism as much as I believe in transparency and I am transparently a Mustang guy. If I were building a cheap, fun track car I know that a 1LE last-gen Camaro is the smart choice. I also know I’d still probably go with the Mustang. Because of my age, I’m torn between an early ’90s police-spec SSP Mustang or a pre-New Edge 1994 or 1995 Cobra with the 5.0-liter V8 as my ultimate pony car.
Nostalgia aside, I’d be extremely pleased to own a new Mustang as well.
I’m not alone! People in America seem to love Mustangs, but right now they’re buying more of the electric variety, with the Mach-E crossover reaching 51,745, an increase of 27% year-over-year. At the same time, the gas-powered Mustang dropped 9.5% to just 44,003, which is a big drop.
What’s going on here? A few things that are indicative of the larger market.
First, and most obviously, people love crossovers. Calling Ford’s first big electric crossover the Mustang was a stroke of genius and, though it pissed some purists off, it was clearly the right move. Second, according to Ford’s Said Deep in an interview with Automotive News, there were some production issues with the Mustang. Third, and perhaps most significantly, Ford loses money on the Mach-E but is otherwise incentivized to sell them, so Ford slashed prices and made the car quite competitive from a pricing standpoint. A Mach-E is a good deal and, if you lease it, perhaps a great deal.
Does this spell the end for the gas-powered Mustang? Of course not. Gas-powered Mustangs are a good business, as pointed out in the Automotive News article linked above:
“Measuring Mustang’s success by just looking at volume misses the mark on the strength of this particular segment,” Deep said in a statement. “Mustang is a very profitable and vibrant business for Ford. We build passionate products for enthusiasts and that’s going to continue to grow.”
Sports car sales have shrunk as rival brands Chevrolet and Dodge abandoned the segment. Despite lower sales, the Mustang’s share of its segment rose about 10 percentage points last year, said Joe Bellino, the car’s brand manager. He said it remains profitable thanks to enthusiasts who spend big bucks on accessories and special editions and that reception to the seventh-generation model has been “relatively strong” since its 2023 launch.
“We’re happy with where Mustang is and, frankly, where we’re going,” Bellino told Automotive News. “It’s a critical part of our business and will continue to be a part of our business.”
That’s all well and good, but if Mustang is a critical part of your business it needs to expand. What does that mean? Ford has already shown dealers images of both a Mustang with four doors and an off-road variant. Adrian already sketched what a Mustang Raptor might look like and it’s dope as hell, y’all.
More Mustangs! More Mustangs! More Mustangs!
Volvo Almost Sells 800,000 Cars
Volvo had a middling year in the United States, falling just a little short of its 2023 sales, though the brand picked up some momentum towards the end of 2024. Given that Volvo said it was going to delay its electrification plans you might assume this means that the company had a bad year overall, but that’s not quite the case.
In the United States, sales of “electrified” models, including plug-ins, increased to 35.7% of all Volvos sold in December, about on par with the 34.3% sold during 2024. Globally, Volvo set a new sales record, hitting 763,389 overall, just shy of the company’s long-term goal of getting 800,000 annual sales.
A lot of this has to do with the popularity of Volvo’s electric vehicles abroad, which largely came from the capable and relatively affordable Volvo EX30. Everyone at The Autopian who has driven one of these things loves it, and it’s a shame it was delayed coming over to the United States, though that should be resolved soon.
Even better for Volvo, because of all of its EV sales, it looks like it’ll be able to sell some emissions credits to its cousins at Mercedes (Geely owns Volvo and also a large share of Mercedes-parent Daimler). According to Reuters, Polestar/Volvo/Smart will pool with Mercedes and likely make hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to offset potential penalties for the German automaker.
Volvo isn’t alone…
Tesla Might Get $1 Billion From EU Emissions Rules
It’s convenient to me that the Euro and US Dollar are basically even right now because that means I can easily make the conversion calculation in my head when I’m writing these stories (or shopping for old Renault 5s on Leboncoin).
Utilizing the same deal as Volvo, Tesla could be the beneficiary of almost $1 billion from its competitors in Europe. Here’s Bloomberg on how that works:
The US company will pool the fleet of electric vehicles it sells this year with at least five other manufacturers, led by Toyota Motor Corp., Stellantis NV and Ford Motor Co., according to an EU document issued Tuesday. The arrangement allows carmakers to average out the emissions of their fleets, with those selling fewer EVs compensating companies like Tesla that over-comply with limits on carbon dioxide emissions.
“Tesla’s compensation could even exceed €1 billion if it monetizes its entire long CO2 position,” UBS analysts led by Patrick Hummel wrote in a report published Wednesday.
Tesla is the most obvious choice because it sells the most electric cars and is a friendly-ish carmaker from the United States. Bloomberg links to this paper from center-right European Parliament member Jens Gieseke, who argues that this is a weird position to be in:
“Our European brands are forced to check whether it’s a smarter idea to give the money to Tesla or to BYD,” said Jens Gieseke, a center-right lawmaker in the European Parliament who authored a paper last month calling on the commission to revisit its automotive policies. “This is not the best approach.”
There might not be much choice, as Tesla probably doesn’t sell enough cars to cover every automaker in Europe.
Honda Press Forward With US-Built EVs, But Maybe At A Slower Pace
Honda’s 0 Saloon Prototype was shown at CES this week and, thanks to some digging, we know it was also shown at the 2003 Tokyo Motor Show. Honda is committed to making this, along with the other prototype, in the United States quite soon.
The EV market in the United States continues to grow, albeit at a way slower pace than when Honda started making these plans. A Trump presidency and the potential loss of EV subsidies don’t make those prospects look much better. Does this mean the company is reconsidering? Not quite yet, according to Honda’s EV business manager in an interview with Bloomberg:
“Some investment plans may be delayed as growth slows down, but we haven’t changed our thinking on bringing more EVs to market,” Katsushi Inoue, a senior managing director in charge of EV business development, said in an interview. “EVs will go mainstream over a longer-term time frame.”
And, in the meantime, Honda sells a crap-ton of hybrids so it has some runway to figure it out.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
Apple Music suggested to me that I should listen to some Synth Pop and, at first, I did not believe Apple Music. Surely, I don’t listen to a lot of Synth Pop while I work, right? Apparently I do. Future Islands. MGMT. CHVRCHES, LCD Soundsystem. And if I listen to all that stuff maybe I want to listen to something honest, a Yaz record. Here’s Yaz doing “Don’t Go.”
The Big Question
Are you going to get mad when Ford makes a Mustang sedan?
Top Image: cammep/stock.adobe.com
The post Why Ford Sold More Electric Mustang Mach-Es Last Year Than Gas-Powered Ones appeared first on The Autopian.
