The electric vehicle (EV) revolution, once hailed as the future of transportation, is hitting a wall for Western automakers. Yesterday’s announcement from Stellantis—a staggering $26 billion writedown tied to scaling back EV ambitions—paints a grim picture.
This follows Ford’s $19.5 billion hit in late 2025, as it rationalized EV assets and pivoted to hybrids amid waning demand.
General Motors isn’t far behind, booking around $12 billion in charges after pulling back on EV production, including a $7.6 billion loss in Q4 2025 alone.
Combined, these three legacy giants have swallowed over $53 billion in losses, and that’s without tallying similar pains from European peers like Volkswagen, which is slashing German jobs by 30% by 2030 amid EV market volatility.
These writedowns aren’t accounting quirks; they’re symptoms of a fundamental miscalculation. Western carmakers bet big on EVs, fueled by government mandates and rosy projections of mass adoption. But reality has bitten hard.
In the U.S., EV sales growth stalled in 2025, hampered by high costs, range anxiety, and the end of federal incentives under the Trump administration. Europe fares little better, with strict EU emissions rules clashing against consumer resistance—EV market share there might peak at just 80% by 2030, but current penetration lags far behind.
Overinvestment in battery plants and supply chains, now idled or impaired, has left balance sheets in tatters. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa admitted as much: the company “over-estimated the pace of the energy transition,” distancing itself from buyers’ real needs.
Contrast this with China, where the EV story is one of triumph, at least if you can believe the government’s data, which is always a crap shoot. Official data shows EV sales in China rose 13% in 2025, reaching a record 13.1 million units and surpassing internal combustion engine vehicles for the first time.
Penetration hit 48% of new vehicle sales, with passenger EVs crossing 50%.
Brands like BYD and Xiaomi dominate, exporting aggressively—exports jumped 86% year-over-year, flooding markets in Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. China’s dominance isn’t luck; it’s engineered through massive subsidies, a vertically integrated supply chain, and cutthroat pricing. Chinese EVs boast 30% cost advantages over Western rivals, thanks to cheap batteries and labor.
That Chinese penetration is also hitting Canada, where Prime Minister Mark Carney is welcoming annual imports of 49,000 Chinese EVs through 2030. At the same time, Canada is lowering its import tariff on Chinese goods and reinstating expired EV subsidies.
Even the U.S. media is taking notice. A recent Wall Street Journal piece gushed over a test drive of Xiaomi’s SU7, lamenting U.S. tariffs that block such affordable, high-tech EVs from American showrooms. The article argues for open access, highlighting how Chinese models offer superior range, speed, and features at bargain prices—demanding, essentially, that we let the competition in. It’s a seductive pitch: why deny consumers cheap, green transport? But it ignores the bigger threat.
If trends hold, the EV market appears to be barreling toward a Chinese monopoly. China already produces 60% of global EVs and controls the battery supply chain. Western retreats, like Ford killing the all-electric F-150 Lightning or GM scrapping BrightDrop vans, indicate U.S. companies can’t compete without massive federal subsidies.
Legacy automakers are pivoting to hybrids and “extended-range” EVs, but this hybrid hedging delays full electrification while China charges ahead. The result? Dependency on Chinese tech, from batteries to software, raises national security risks. Job losses in Detroit and Stuttgart could accelerate, as factories close and R&D shifts east. Europe’s car market is already collapsing, with brands like Jaguar and Alfa Romeo teetering on extinction amid the EV pivot.
U.S. policymakers show no sign of reversing course. The Trump administration has already eliminated the $7,500 federal EV tax credit, rolled back emissions standards that acted as de facto EV mandates, and imposed steep tariffs on imports—including Chinese EVs—to protect domestic industry. These moves have slowed U.S. EV adoption further, with market share projected to dip in 2026 before any gradual recovery.
Without heavy subsidies or mandates, Western automakers face a stark choice: accelerate cost-cutting, form strategic partnerships (perhaps even with Chinese suppliers for batteries), or risk irrelevance in the global EV segment. This is what happens when energy reality intrudes on green dreams.
David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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