Can You Ever Trust Automakers Saying There’s Not Enough EV Demand?

We’ve seen it countless times now. A decade ago, it was the clear core talking point of automakers. There’s “no demand” for EVs. Consumers supposedly didn’t want electric cars — sad, so sad, but just reality. Except, repeatedly, it has been proven wrong. It’s often been used in connection with efforts to weaken fuel economy/CO2 emission regulations, but then when those regulations kick in, it turns out people will buy the number of EVs automakers need to sell. What a surprise.

At other times, it’s an argument that’s been used to kill individual EV model projects. Maybe these are genuine cases and the automakers have real issues drumming up consumer interest in certain EV models. But given how many times they have “cried wolf” on this topic, I just struggle to ever trust them when they use this excuse.

This is all coming to mind today because I saw headlines that Ferrari is delaying its second EV model until 2028 due to weak consumer demand.

Wait, Ferrari has a first EV model already? Did I miss that launch? No, that model will arrive later this year. It’s named the Elettrica and will reportedly cost customers half a million dollars. Despite that car not yet being out, Ferrari is saying that there isn’t strong market demand for luxury high-performance electric cars.

Perhaps this is all true. Ferrari is definitely in a niche segment of the market. I have no idea what buyers in that segment are really like and want. The claims just gave me flashbacks to so many claims of “lack of demand” that turned out to be proven false. And it brought to mind the question “Can we ever trust automakers who are saying there’s not enough demand for EVs?”

Featured Ferrari image by Jamil Rostum via Pexels