Ford and Tesla no longer want you to be able to buy the cars after you lease them


Ford is now prohibiting its customers from purchasing their electric car at the end of their lease in certain parts of the United States. An idea similar to that of Tesla.

The LOA (Lease with option to buy) offers many advantages, including that of being able to buy back, if you wish, the car you have rented for several months or years, for a certain sum. An alternative that is attracting more and more motorists today, and which then makes it possible not necessarily to have to commit to a purchase.

Nevertheless, it would seem that not all manufacturers are followers of this solution. This is particularly the case of Tesla, which, in the United States, no longer allows customers to buy the car at the end of the rental contract, as our colleagues fromElectrek. This therefore makes it an LLD (Long Term Rental) contract. The cars could indeed be used by the network of autonomous VTCs being developed by the brand, or resold second-hand, at prices much higher than resale in LOA.

Ford’s turn to review its LOA

But Elon Musk’s firm is no longer the only one to prohibit the purchase of its electric cars at the end of the rental contract. Indeed, it is now Ford’s turn to implement this measure, which currently concerns 38 states in North America, since June 15. But the firm with the blue oval plans to extend it to the rest of the United States by the end of the year.

As our colleagues from Cars Directthis decision can be explained by Ford’s desire to focus on battery recycling. All electric vehicles in the range are therefore concerned, namely the F-150 Lightning, the Ford Mustang Mach-E and the Ford E-Transit. All customers renting these models will therefore have to return their car once the contract has ended, or can sign a new rental contract.

A battery recycling policy

While specialists fear a shortage of batteries, Ford wants to accelerate the recycling of those from its vehicles. A spokesperson for the financing division points out that ” Ford’s battery strategy includes recycling and localizing battery production, and Ford Credit’s electric vehicle leasing program allows customers to replace their vehicles with the latest model at the end of the lease while keeping the vehicle in the Ford network longer so that Ford can better manage battery recycling and materials“.

Battery recycling is a big topic for the American brand, which plans to manufacture 600,000 electric vehicles by the end of next year, and 2 million by 2026. But supply problems linked to the shortage of semiconductors and rare metals greatly complicate the situation. Hence the importance for brands to reuse the components present in existing batteries.

For its part, Volkswagen also wishes to rent its electric cars to several owners in a row, as Herbert Diess indicated in September 2021. The idea being to keep control of the battery which would have a longer life than that of the car.

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