Ford reported a second-quarter loss of $919 million at its Model e electric vehicle division, an improvement of $410 million on the same period last year, achieved almost entirely by selling fewer electric vehicles.
Model e wholesales fell 53.3% to 28,000 units from 60,000, and segment revenue dropped 56.0% to $1.0 billion from $2.4 billion.
The April-June period marked the fourth straight quarter of declines.
Measured against volume, the economics deteriorated.
The division lost about $32,821 for every vehicle wholesaled in the quarter, against roughly $22,150 a year earlier, an increase of 48.2%.
Segment EBIT margin widened to negative 89.6% from negative 56.4%, a deterioration of 33.2 percentage points.
The company described the quarter as the third consecutive period of year-over-year EBIT improvement at Model e.
Five Straight Quarters of Contraction
The retreat is not confined to one quarter.
Model e wholesales have fallen in each of the past five reporting periods, from 60,000 in the second quarter of 2025 to 50,000, 37,000, 34,000 and 28,000.
Revenue has followed the same path, declining from $2.4 billion to $1.8 billion, $1.3 billion, $1.2 billion and $1.0 billion, a cumulative fall of 58.3%.
Ford attributed the decline to right-sizing Mustang Mach-E production to customer demand and to the discontinuation of the F-150 Lightning, the pickup withdrawn last year as part of an EV restructuring.
The presentation credits the improvement to loss optimisation on what the company calls Gen-1 products, language that describes managing the decline of the existing lineup rather than growth.
For the first half, Model e lost $1.7 billion on revenue of $2.3 billion, from wholesales of 62,000 units, against a $2.2 billion loss on $3.6 billion a year earlier.
Across the company, electric vehicle wholesales fell to 64,000 from 88,000.
Guidance Adjusted
Ford now expects Model e to lose about $4.0 billion in 2026, against a prior range of $4.0 billion to $4.5 billion.
The revision removes the worse end of the range rather than lowering the expected loss.
With $1.7 billion booked in the first half, the guidance implies a further $2.3 billion of losses over the remainder of the year, a heavier run rate than the first six months produced.
The figure would follow a $4.8 billion loss in 2025, and the division is not expected to reach profitability until 2029.
Management pointed to the Universal EV platform as the basis for next-generation cost performance, the architecture underpinning a $30,000 midsize electric pickup due in 2027.
A $3.6 Billion Battery Charge
The quarter’s largest single item sits outside the segment results.
Ford recorded a $3.6 billion charge on the disposition of its BlueOval SK joint venture, the battery manufacturing partnership with SK On, and assumed a Department of Energy loan previously held by the venture.
A further $0.5 billion was taken against EV programme cancellations announced in December 2025, bringing first-half charges on that line to $0.6 billion.
Total pre-tax special items reached $4.2 billion in the quarter, against $1.3 billion a year earlier.
The DOE loan assumption pushed company cash net of debt to negative $0.3 billion at June 30, from positive $7.7 billion at the end of December.
Cash stood at $22.3 billion and liquidity at $43.4 billion, down from $28.7 billion and $49.8 billion respectively.
The Rest of the Business
Company adjusted EBIT rose 17.0% to $2.5 billion, on revenue down 4.0% to $48.3 billion.
Adjusted EBIT margin improved 0.9 percentage points to 5.2%, and adjusted earnings per share reached $0.42, up five cents and ahead of the 35 cents expected by analysts polled by LSEG.
Automotive revenue of $44.89 billion, which excludes the Ford Credit contribution, came in below the $45.86 billion consensus.
On a GAAP basis Ford posted a net loss of $1.33 billion, or $0.33 a share, against a $36 million loss a year earlier, the difference accounted for by special items.
Ford Blue delivered $1.1 billion of EBIT on $26.1 billion of revenue, up $0.5 billion, at a 4.4% margin, with off-road trims accounting for nearly a quarter of US sales.
Ford Pro generated $1.7 billion on $17.8 billion, down $0.6 billion, at a 9.7% margin, as aluminium supply constraints tied to Novelis continued to affect F-Series output. Ford Credit contributed $0.8 billion of earnings before taxes.
Company adjusted free cash flow was $2.1 billion, down $0.7 billion.
Ford raised full-year adjusted EBIT guidance to $10.0 billion to $11.0 billion from $8.5 billion to $10.5 billion, and adjusted free cash flow to $6.0 billion to $7.0 billion from $5.0 billion to $6.0 billion.
Capital spending guidance was unchanged at $9.5 billion to $10.5 billion.
Ford Blue guidance rose to $5.0 billion to $5.5 billion and Ford Pro to $7.0 billion to $7.5 billion.
Shares rose about 6.9% to $15.99 in after-hours trading on Tuesday, with management’s conference call underway as this report was published.
The gain came despite the revenue miss and the GAAP loss, and follows the earnings beat and the raised full-year outlook.
