Ford Focus Electric Car En Route To Dealers. Good Luck
This weekend, Ford will put its first Focus EVs on car carriers and ship them to dealers, Reuters heard. Some 67 dealers in California, New Jersey and New York will receive 350 Electrics. Each dealer will get about six cars, one of which will be a demonstration model, the other for sale, Reuters’ sources said.
Ford did not want to comment on these enormous news. Ford spokesman Wes Sherwood only offered the sibylline statement that Ford is “still on track to begin shipping the Focus Electric this spring.”
The Focus EV will have a hard time. EVs are not necessarily flying off dealer’s lots. Nissan sold 2,103 of its all electric Leaf in the first four months of the year. In the same period, GM sold 5,377 of its not quite all-electric Volt.
Of course, some cars are not meant for rapid sales. They are more meant to fill a quota.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Electric Car is the future
Just taking the topic side-ways for a moment.. Anyone else think styling wise the above car, at least from the front... kinda.. sorta.. vaguely resembles Aston Martin design language?
Electric cars aren't created by a market economy, they are not purchased because there is a demand, they are produced at enormous cost and sold at a loss but at a still high price that is partially offset by a government tax credit (which would probably kill sales if it wasn't there)... If you had 40 grand, what would you buy? Two new cars that get 35-40mpg, or a single electric car without a reliable charging infrastructure unless you live in one of a half dozen urban areas. Oh, wait, most average American families can't even afford to buy a NEW car, despite high gas prices, let alone an electric car! The only "real" market I see for these vehicles are the people who want to be ostensibly seen as eco-crusaders. Forget the Prius, I have an electric car!
I do live in an area (Seattle) with an excellent EV infrastructure and a large population of EVs and if I was in the market for a new commuter car I'd definitely consider the Focus E. However my 2011 Fiesta gets 36 mpg so it's a little hard to justify replacing a new vehicle that gets good mpg. If the price of gas keeps climbing (it's $4.25 a gallon and heading up at the moment, the opposite of the national trend) the Focus is going to look more and more attractive to me.