Ford takes aim at Tesla with new EV rebate incentive

Ford (F) rolls out a new rebate incentive offering a $1,500 discount on its EVs to car buyers who already lease or own a Tesla (TSLA) vehicle.

Yahoo Finance Senior Autos Reporter Pras Subramanian joins Market Domination to discuss Ford's EV strategy as the automaker hopes to draw customers away from its biggest competitors.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination.

This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video transcript

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JULIE HYMAN: Let's check in on some of today's other top trending tickers. Taking a look at the EV space, Ford fueling the EV price war as it offers a rebate incentive, particularly trying to put a target on Tesla. Our Pras Subramanian joins us now to discuss a little bit of a different strategy here from Ford, I guess.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah, you know, manufacturers use these discounts or conquest type rebates here and there. Let's say, for example, Ford will say, if you get like, a broad competitor's pickup, we'll give you a discount on our pickup. But in this case, they actually targeted a specific manufacturer in Tesla.

Able to confirm with the Ford dealer that they're going to give you $1,500 if you're a current Tesla owner for a Mustang Mach-E or a Ford Lightning, right? So the two big EV offerings that Ford has. It's not a huge amount of money, but basically you don't have to actually trade the car. And you just got to say that I actually lease or own a 2008 or older Tesla, like not even a recent one, and they'll give you the money. And it could be anyone in your household too.

So kind of, a interesting take here on really targeting Tesla, not just saying any EV, but Tesla in particular. I think there's a reason why. I think they wanted to go after that EV enthusiast or that person who's really, kind of, forward in their EV thinking. They want to get those guys in into their Ford, kind of, universe and they'll pay up for it.

JOSH LIPTON: Yeah. What is just broadly, Pras, what is Ford's EV strategy at this point?

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: You know, it's been changing a lot. Just last week, they said they've pushed back some of their plant buildout. And some of their products they pushed out from 2025 to 2027. These are the second generation EVs that they think will be more efficient and cheaper to make and just a better overall, sort of, financial, kind of, experiment for Ford.

So I think that's the goal. But at the same time, they're still pushing these gen 1 EVs. And they're going to be losing about $5 to $5.5 billion this year in their Model e business. So I can't imagine that they're going to be saving money doing this. This is the exact opposite. But maybe they've already budgeted some of this stuff in that.

JULIE HYMAN: Interesting.

JOSH LIPTON: All right. Thank you, Pras. I appreciate it.