The move towards electric or hybrid powered cars has hit something of a bump in the road these past couple of weeks. Whilst most automotive companies have been making the move towards producing these in the last few years, some are now putting future plans for these on the table and deciding whether to press ahead with them in challenging economic circumstances.
Aston Martin and Maserati in particular are just two names that have cited their hiatus of the move towards electrification. According to The Guardian newspaper, the former has stated it intends to slash around 5% of its workforce, which is believed to be as a result of substantial losses they made in Q4 2024, emanating from issues in the supply chain and supply outstripping demand in China, whilst the latter have seen concerning falls in sales year-on-year by 50%, from 26,600 in 2023 to just 11,300 last year.
Having said that, Adrian Hallmark, Aston Martin's current CEO, has refuted to The Telegraph newspaper that the job cuts are directly related to prospective EV launches, but has instead said that to do so now for its customers would be "too extreme a step", with the first fully electric Aston not likely to see the light of day until the latter half of this decade. Hallmark has, however, said that they are concentrating their efforts on plug-in hybrids, which is where the interest seems to be more prominent at the present time.
However, they are not alone in their woes; Porsche has stated that they anticipate cutting 1,900 jobs by 2029, owing to less than stellar market demand for their own EVs they have been producing, and are even contemplating cramming internal combustion engines into models that they previously stated would be all-electric, and Lotus, which only just relaunched as an electrified marque three years ago, is pivoting back to gas with what it is dubbing as "Hyper Hybrid technology".
On the surface, whilst there is undoubtedly concerning news at play here as regards to cutbacks, some context is relevant. Smaller and cheaper road-going cars with plug-in hybrid powering have been more readily embraced and grown exponentially - which will be music to the ears of most major Governments, the UK included, who are targeting net zero emissions in the next decade.
With the supercar manufacturers, many are finding the going tougher pivoting from the V8 and V12 engines that have been the power behind their biggest and best known models in the past, and finding a suitable alternative that is either electric or hybrid that can not only match that powering but better it.
Relatively speaking, it is still early days; at the moment, the higher price tags combined with a limited range - not to mention the residual costs of battery packs and electric motors that will need to be accounted for later down the line - all add up to a perfect storm of what we're seeing now with a downturn in interest from those who are in the market for top of the range supercars.
Of course, it doesn't mean that the idea of EVs is out the window completely just on a few sales dips. But it is obvious, therefore, that the question that needs to be asked in the long term is how to find the right balance of accessibility, appeal and power and performance that will drive interest back up for them. With the brains and talent there to try and solve these issues, the answer, we believe, may come sooner than anyone expects.
Perhaps you're still on the fence about electric or hybrid powered cars? Why not give one of our Electric Car Driving Experiences a go? We have a number of vehicles including the BMW i8 available to drive at venues and locations across the UK, which will let you try out the possibilities of future supercar powering for less.
