And that is providing Ford, GM and other established automakers with billions in cash to mount a challenge to Tesla Tesla has ambitions to boost annual sales to 500,000 vehicles a year. Analysts expect the company to post a third quarter net loss of $380.4 million when it reports results next Wednesday.Electric cars are money losers, which explains why global automakers have been slow to roll them out until now. But regulatory and consumer pressures are forcing established automakers to put more electric vehicles in their fleets over the next several years. In a cash-intensive industry, profits from pickups and SUVs may give them a competitive edge.Ford said on Thursday that the average price of one of its F-series pickups rose $2,800 to an average $45,400 a truck in the third quarter. Sales of F-series trucks, which range from spartan work trucks to Platinum models with the features - and price tags - of a European luxury sedan, were up nearly 11 percent to 658,636 vehicles for the first nine months of this year.

Source: Economic Times October 27, 2017 05:26 UTC