Stellantis, Ford and General Motors risk losing ground in electric vehicles just as Chinese rivals expand their international presence. Dale Hall, global program lead at the International Council on Clean Transportation, links that risk to lower investment and inconsistent US policies, which make it harder for automakers to plan future products.
Stellantis, Ford and GM risk falling behind China in the EV race
US manufacturers originally planned much of their EV spending around incentives introduced through the Inflation Reduction Act. The later elimination of consumer EV tax credits and uncertainty surrounding industrial support changed those conditions. Ford has already revised several initiatives, pointing to weaker-than-expected demand and difficulties controlling costs, but Hall argues that delaying new products could give competitors more room to expand in the years ahead.
China presents a very different environment. A dense battery-supplier network and more widespread public charging infrastructure support an industry that can develop new vehicles at a rapid pace. Ford CEO Jim Farley has repeatedly acknowledged the quality of Chinese cars and the efficiency of their factories, while executives from Honda and Toyota have also spoken positively about the level of automation they observed during visits to Chinese plants.
In his analysis published by Automotive News, Hall also measures the gap through the amount automakers commit to electrification relative to the number of vehicles they sell. Ford, GM and Stellantis each come in below $400 per vehicle, while leading Chinese groups including BYD, SAIC and Geely reach figures of around $2,750 per vehicle at the upper end.
The ICCT metric compares announced investments in the transition to electric vehicles with each manufacturer’s overall size. It does not mean that Ford, GM or Stellantis literally spend less than $400 to install a battery or other EV hardware in each vehicle.
Tesla still sells more electric vehicles than Ford, GM and Stellantis combined. However, BYD overtook Tesla in 2025 to become the world’s largest seller of battery-electric vehicles on an annual basis. Traditional automakers therefore face competitors that already operate at substantial scale and can spread development costs across a larger customer base.
Hall sees more affordable EVs as the most urgent response. A lineup dominated by expensive models naturally limits the number of potential buyers, while Chinese manufacturers continue adding lower-priced electric vehicles across an increasing number of international markets.
Chinese automakers continue expanding overseas, which means Detroit’s manufacturers must compete with them across more regions and price segments. Cutting EV spending may reduce costs in the short term, but it also raises a longer-term question: what products will traditional automakers have ready when their new rivals introduce another wave of affordable electric vehicles?
