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Ford and SK On Call Time on a $11.4 Billion Battery Bet as the EV Tide Recedes

Back in 2021, Ford’s future looked decidedly electric. Flush with optimism and buoyed by generous federal incentives, the Blue Oval teamed up with South Korean battery heavyweight SK On for an $11.4 billion joint venture to build a network of EV battery plants across the United States. It was a bold, expensive, and very public declaration that Ford intended to be a serious player in the EV arms race.

Fast-forward to late 2025, and that confidence has given way to retrenchment. Ford and SK On are dissolving their battery partnership entirely, a high-profile breakup that says less about either company’s competence and more about how quickly the EV landscape has shifted under Detroit’s feet.

The split didn’t come out of nowhere. Two major forces have been working against EV momentum in the U.S. First was the rollback of the federal EV tax credit, a move that immediately cooled consumer demand and took some of the financial sting out of sticking with internal combustion. Second came the U.S. administration’s decision to revise fuel economy standards, a policy change that effectively tilts the playing field back toward gasoline-powered vehicles. Together, those moves reshaped the market in a way few automakers had modeled just a few years ago.

Under the terms of the breakup, the assets will be divided rather than abandoned. SK On will take over the already-established joint venture facility in Tennessee, known as the BlueOval plant, while Ford will assume control of the two adjacent factories in Kentucky. The arrangement keeps both companies in the battery business, just no longer under the same corporate roof.

Notably, it was SK On that formally dissolved the partnership, though the company has been careful to emphasize that it still plans to work with Ford around the Tennessee facility. From SK On’s perspective, the separation is about agility. Ending the joint venture, the company says, will improve productivity, increase operational flexibility, and allow it to accelerate its North American energy storage system business—an area that’s quietly becoming just as important as EVs themselves.

The fallout extends beyond factory gates. One of the most immediate consequences is a reassessment of a massive government loan approved near the end of the Biden administration. Originally structured as up to $9.6 billion in financing for the joint venture, the loan is now set to be reduced under the Trump administration’s oversight. How much smaller it will become hasn’t been finalized, but Bloomberg reports that the loan will be reworked to “reduce exposure to taxpayers and ensure its prompt repayment.”

Ford, for its part, is cooperating with the Energy Department and has signaled it’s willing to repay the loan faster than originally planned—a move that suggests the company is eager to clean up its balance sheet and put some distance between itself and a bet that no longer looks like a sure thing.

That urgency is understandable. Ford’s EV business has been bleeding red ink, losing $5.1 billion before interest and taxes in 2024, with even steeper losses expected this year. Domestic EV sales are sliding, and CEO Jim Farley has been unusually blunt about what lies ahead. He recently warned that, under current policies, EV sales in the U.S. could fall by as much as 50 percent.

From that vantage point, the breakup looks less like a failure and more like triage. “We believe the writing was on the wall this partnership was not going to work moving forward,” Wedbush Securities managing director Dan Ives told the Detroit Free Press. “Ford has to make some difficult moves and this was a smart strategic one to rip the band-aid off. The EV market is dramatically scaled down for Ford now and they have to adjust accordingly.”

That adjustment doesn’t mean Ford is abandoning electrification altogether. Instead, it signals a recalibration—one that prioritizes flexibility over massive, long-term capital commitments made under very different political and economic assumptions. The automaker still needs batteries, still needs EVs, and still needs a credible electrified lineup to compete globally. What it no longer seems willing to do is bet tens of billions on a single vision of how fast America would go electric.

For SK On, the breakup may actually be an opportunity. With full control of the Tennessee plant and freedom to pursue energy storage more aggressively, the company can diversify beyond passenger EVs and chase steadier demand from grid-scale projects and industrial customers.

In the end, the Ford–SK On split is less about blame and more about timing. The EV boom that automakers planned for in the early 2020s hasn’t vanished, but it has slowed, fractured, and become far more politically contingent. In that environment, even the biggest players are learning that sometimes the smartest move isn’t to double down—but to step back, reassess, and live to fight the next round.

Source: Detroit Free Press

News

Bentley Flying Spur Speed Sets a New Meaning for “All-Weather Performance”

Winter testing usually means cold starts, numb fingers, and a polite nod toward traction control. Bentley, however, decided to rewrite the rulebook—again. At the world’s northernmost active race circuit, just 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle, the Flying Spur Speed has claimed a new winter lap record, proving that four doors and a luxury badge don’t preclude serious performance when the surface turns hostile.

The venue was Drivecenter Arena in Fällfors, northern Sweden, a former military airbase repurposed into a 2.05-mile circuit. In summer, it’s demanding. In winter—when the entire track is buried under roughly 12 inches of ice and snow—it’s borderline absurd. Yet Bentley’s flagship performance sedan circulated the circuit in under three minutes, posting a best lap of 2:58. No car has ever gone quicker here in winter conditions.

That headline time becomes even more impressive when you consider the details. Peak speed during the run touched 120 mph, despite the longest straight measuring just 450 meters and being covered in polished sheet ice. This wasn’t a gentle demonstration run; it was a full-commit lap, with the Flying Spur’s variable all-wheel-drive system and rear-wheel steering working overtime to deliver agility that simply shouldn’t exist on a frozen runway masquerading as a racetrack.

A Record Rooted in Bentley History

Bentley didn’t arrive at this challenge on a whim. The winter lap record was inspired by the brand’s own back catalog of improbable achievements: the Ice Speed Records of 2007 and 2011, and the lesser-known but no less astonishing 1986 endurance feat, when a Turbo R averaged 140 mph for an hour around the banked bowl at Millbrook Proving Ground.

In a thoughtful nod to that legacy, the record-setting Flying Spur—registration Y15 BML—was specified to mirror the Turbo R from Bentley’s Heritage Collection. Finished in Brooklands Green with yellow fine lines, and trimmed inside in Linen, Cumbrian Green, and Open Pore Walnut, the car also marked the Turbo R’s 40th anniversary. It’s a reminder that Bentley’s obsession with speed hasn’t replaced its reverence for tradition; it has simply evolved.

Ultra Performance, Electrified

Underneath the heritage paintwork lies Bentley’s most advanced Flying Spur yet. The Speed is powered by an Ultra Performance Hybrid system pairing a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 with an electric motor integrated into an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. In Sport mode, the numbers read like something from a super-sedan fantasy league: 782 horsepower and 1,000 Nm of torque.

The electric motor contributes instant response, smoothing throttle inputs and amplifying traction—especially valuable on ice—while the V8 delivers its trademark cross-plane soundtrack. In pure EV mode, the Flying Spur still produces 190 horsepower and 450 Nm of torque, enough to blend seamlessly into everyday traffic. A 25.9-kWh battery provides up to 47 miles of electric-only range on the EU cycle, while total driving range stretches to 515 miles. Full electric running is possible at speeds up to 87 mph, with up to 75 percent throttle application—numbers that quietly redefine what “EV mode” means in a Bentley.

Chassis Tech That Earns Its Keep

The real hero of this Arctic achievement, however, lives beneath the bodywork. The Bentley Performance Active Chassis comes standard on the Flying Spur Speed and includes Dynamic Ride, all-wheel steering, an electronically controlled limited-slip differential, and a new generation of ESC software. That software allows a broad spectrum of driving styles—from ironclad stability to something far more playful. For the record run, ESC was switched off entirely.

With a rear-biased weight distribution of 48.3:51.7, the Flying Spur gives its chassis systems an inherently balanced foundation. Active torque vectoring shuffles power front to rear via the center differential, while brake-based vectoring fine-tunes distribution across each axle. On dry pavement, that means sharper turn-in and cleaner exits. On snow-covered sheet ice, it’s the difference between motion and inertia.

Luxury, Redefined by Capability

What makes this winter lap record remarkable isn’t just the stopwatch—it’s the context. This is a full-size luxury sedan, trimmed in walnut and leather, capable of whisper-quiet electric cruising one moment and near-racing commitment the next, all while operating on a surface better suited to studded tires and snowmobiles.

Bentley has long argued that true performance should be usable, not conditional. With the Flying Spur Speed, that philosophy has now been tested—and validated—within sight of the Arctic Circle. In doing so, Bentley hasn’t just set a record. It has delivered a reminder that modern luxury, when engineered properly, doesn’t retreat when conditions worsen. It thrives.

Source: Bentley

News

The EU’s Five-Year Reprieve for Combustion Cars Comes With a Catch

Just when Europe’s auto industry thought it could finally exhale, the European Commission delivered a decision that feels less like a reprieve and more like a strategic feint.

Yes, Brussels is preparing to push back the long-planned ban on the sale of new internal-combustion vehicles by five years, moving the deadline beyond the original 2035 target. For manufacturers staring down an expensive, uneven, and politically charged transition to full electrification—while simultaneously fending off an aggressive wave of Chinese competitors—that delay is no small relief.

But read past the headline, and the message sharpens considerably.

A Delay for Buyers, Not for Fleets

According to reporting from Germany’s Handelsblatt, the Commission’s plan would still allow private buyers to purchase new gasoline and diesel cars for several more years. The business side of the market, however, tells a very different story.

Company fleets, leasing firms, government vehicles, and car-rental operators would face an accelerated electric mandate—one that could effectively sideline internal-combustion engines from the commercial market well before the private ban ever kicks in.

Under the proposal:

  • By 2027, at least 50 percent of new fleet vehicles would have to be electric.
  • By 2030, that figure would jump to nearly 90 percent.

Translated from regulatory language: rental counters and company parking garages across Europe would go overwhelmingly electric within just five years.

Why Fleets Matter More Than You Think

This isn’t a niche policy move. Fleet and rental vehicles already account for around 60 percent of all new-car sales in the EU—a staggering majority that quietly drives the entire market. In 2024 alone, roughly 10.6 million vehicles were sold across the Union, with corporate and rental registrations outpacing private purchases, as individual buyers increasingly turn to the used-car market to manage costs.

The Commission’s logic is straightforward: fleet vehicles don’t disappear when their first owner is done with them. They flow directly into the used-car ecosystem. Electrify fleets first, and the private market becomes electric by default a few years later—whether consumers are fully ready or not.

In Brussels’ view, without this lever, a delayed ban on private sales would blunt the entire emissions strategy.

Relief, Resistance, and Real-World Friction

Unsurprisingly, the backlash has been swift.

Markus Ferber, a German Member of the European Parliament, has already urged Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to reject the fleet-sector ban outright, arguing that it unfairly distorts the market. Meanwhile, the CEO of rental-car giant Sixt has warned that tourists could be the unintended victims of the policy, citing inconsistent charging infrastructure across much of the EU.

That criticism cuts to the heart of the issue. Mandates are one thing; readiness is another. Forcing rapid electrification in sectors that depend on convenience, turnaround time, and cross-border travel exposes the uneven reality of Europe’s charging network—particularly outside major urban centers.

The Bigger Picture: Strategy Over Sentiment

What emerges from this plan is not indecision, but calculation.

By easing pressure on private buyers while clamping down on fleets, the Commission is attempting to accelerate electrification without triggering immediate voter backlash. It’s a policy designed to work quietly, reshaping the market through volume rather than outright prohibition.

For automakers, the message is clear: the combustion engine’s countdown hasn’t stopped—it’s simply shifted lanes. Plug-in hybrids, range-extended EVs, and vehicles running on biofuels or synthetic e-fuels may enjoy a longer runway, but the business-to-business market is about to go electric at full throttle.

The Commission was expected to formally confirm these plans earlier this month, though the announcement has reportedly been delayed amid political tension. Whether the final version survives intact—or is softened under industry pressure—remains to be seen.

One thing is certain: Europe isn’t abandoning its electric future. It’s just choosing a more surgical way to get there.

Source: Handelsblatt

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