Yesterday Luca de Meo, CEO of the Renault Group, announced the cancellation of the stock market listing of Ampere, the company created to be the European 'pure player' of electric vehicles and software.
Today there were rumors - reported by Automotive News Europe - about a similar decision that Volkswagen AG may take regarding the IPO for its PowerCo battery unit.
These are two strong signals - report specialized media and analysts - on the criticality of the transition towards electric-only mobility and on the industry's concerns regarding the profitability of the sector.
These doubts are not only the consequence of the trend in female registrations of battery-only models in the European market (1,899,700 sold in 2023 with the forecast of rising next year to only 1,935,000 units) but also of the widespread diffusion of It is the oil of a rethink that many large groups are showing towards this radical transformation of the markets.
Already in the United States, the two giants General Motors and Ford had scaled back their programs for electric models and battery factories, partly due to concerns about excessive dependence on imports.
Now there are also declarations from companies that have a strong impact on Europe.
Jose Munoz, Hyundai's chief operating officer, said in November 2023 that "while seeing a continued increase in sales" of its 100% electric models, he highlighted that "the sector was not growing as fast as we thought" and that "demand was not as high as expected."
And in recent days this was echoed by Akio Toyoda, the president of Toyota Motor - which is the largest automotive group in the world - stating that "battery electric vehicles will reach, at most, 30% of the market share, while the the rest will be occupied by hybrids, hydrogen fuel cells and combustion cars" and underlining that "it is customers and not regulations or politics who have to make this decision".
European motorists are growing colder towards the transition to electric vehicles - writes the authoritative Forbes - as unexpected disadvantages stifle expectations". The report also reiterates that the current weakness in sales of electric vehicles is partly linked to the decision of the Germany to end subsidies on December 18. "Germany is Europe's largest electric car market with around 25% of sales but buyers are finding that many of the benefits promised by the switch to electric vehicles are not being realized in the real world."
And it is always Forbes that reminds us that if we want to achieve market shares of 80% by 2030 in the EU and 80% in the United Kingdom by 2030, the prices of electric vehicles will have to fall drastically" with investors as a result "they are becoming nervous about the risks involved". After the expected stagnation in 2024 the scenario should change especially if the impact of other purchase prices of battery-powered cars, which impacts the weakest groups, is reduced. According to Matt Schmidt of Schmidt Automotive Research, sales of electric vehicles in Europe could rise to 2.6 million (20% of the total) in 2025, rising to 9.2 million (65%) by 2030. But for analysts at the British Jefferies Group LLC at 2030 target, registrations will not exceed 8.9 million in 2030, which is well below forecasts.
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