The year 2025 is only half over. But for some of global automakers’ most ambitious electric vehicle projects, the In Memoriam segment is already shaping up to be a sad one. Major manufacturers including Honda, Stellantis, and Nissan publicly backed off plans to build and sell battery-electric vehicles, joining others who have made similar admissions in the past two years.
Vehicle program cancellations aren’t the sign of a thriving industry. Traditional automakers work on five- to seven-year product cycles, which means they’ve already started spending money to design, plan, and produce vehicles that won’t roll onto dealers’ lots for years. Nixing those vehicles means losing money and leaving holes in their portfolios—something automakers won’t do without good reason.
The good reason here seems to mostly come down to utter chaos in the EV market. Some five years ago, automakers seemed desperate to catch up with Tesla and its sky-high valuation, and so made grand pledges. Mercedes-Benz and Volvo said they would go all-electric by 2030; General Motors targeted 2035. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit and scrambled supply chains. Then governments, including the US government, used a mix of subsidies and regulations to ratchet up pressure for automakers to produce zero-emission cars. Then EV sales growth slowed. Now, in the US, the federal government has used the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill to bring a sudden halt to years of EV and battery manufacturing boosterism. Plus, its tariff policy has upended global supply chains. Now many of those automakers’ big electric promises have quietly gone away.
Which is to say, the cancellations make some sense. “It’s business as usual in the sense that disruption is the main driver of the last five years,” says Mark Wakefield, the global automotive lead at AlixPartners, a consulting firm. “There’s a speed bump every year.” This year, the firm dropped its 2030 sales predictions for battery-electric and hybrid cars by a whopping 46 percent compared to last year’s projections.
Cancellations might also be signs that automakers are learning from their mistakes and even beginning to adapt more quickly. “There's a lot happening and a lot also being questioned and then abandoned,” says Wakefield. Making faster lineup changes should be key to keeping up with Chinese automakers, who have been able to shepherd new EVs from conception to the roads in less than two years.
Which is to say, more changes are likely on the way. All the way down the automotive supply chain, “companies are going quiet about their EV projects,” says Hannah Hess, the associate director of the energy and climate practice at the Rhodium Group, a research firm. Manufacturers tend not to announce their cancellations but instead hope that people forget about their original proposals. So WIRED made a list of the canceled and postponed EVs of the past two years.
RIP to them—and expect a few more losses along the way.
Gone but Not Forgotten
Ford Three-Row EV SUV
Died August 2024
Ford said last summer that it had rethought its electric vehicle strategy, cutting its annual EV program spend and devoting more resources to hybrids. "What we've learned is that customers want choice, and so we're providing that choice, with a full lineup of EVs, hybrid, electric, gas, and diesel products," Ford CFO John Lawler said at the time. Among the casualties of the shift was a three-row electric SUV.
Honda Five- and Seven-Seat EV SUV
Died July 2025
This month, Honda reportedly nixed a new EV series meant to hit the roads starting in 2026. The company reconsidered its plans in light of falling demand for EVs in the US and will reportedly refocus on increasing hybrid production. Honda is moving forward with its “0 Series” sedan and midsize SUV EVs, which are set to debut next year.
Mercedes-Benz MB.EA-Large Platform
Died May 2024
Mercedes-Benz was supposed to build a new electric vehicle platform to support the next versions of its EQS and EQE sedans and SUVs, plus other future luxury EV models, starting in 2028. But poor initial sales for the EQS and EQE reportedly led the company to focus on its current platform instead.
Nissan and Infiniti EV Sedans
Died April 2025
Nissan North America Chair Christian Meunier told Automotive News this spring that the automaker was “listening to market data” and its US customers, who were demanding fewer EVs and more SUVs. “The sedan market is shrinking,” he said. “We need to face reality.” Two EV sedans, by Nissan and its luxury division Infiniti, are out, and Nissan will build at least two electric SUVs instead.
Volvo All-EV Lineup
Died September 2024
Volvo said in 2021 that it planned to become a fully electric car company by 2030. Just three years later, it changed its tune. The company wrote in a press release that it “decided to adjust its electrification ambitions due to changing market conditions and customer demands.”
Maserati MC20 Folgore
Died March 2025
Stellantis’ luxury Maserati brand killed off its planned MC20 sports car earlier this year. A spokesperson told Reuters that its customers “are not ready to switch to BEV (battery electric vehicles) in a foreseeable future.”
Apple Car
Died February 2024
Apple’s ambitious Project Titan, a plan to build an electric, autonomous car, operated in deep secrecy for a decade. Then the company reportedly pulled the plug in February 2024. The big problems plaguing the program included many, many changes in strategy and personnel, a cooling electric vehicle market, issues with the self-driving part of the project, the lack of support from a traditional automaker, and Apple’s big push into other artificial intelligence projects. Some on the car team were reportedly moved into alternative AI efforts.
Fisker Pear
Died June 2024
The Fisker Pear, announced in 2022, was supposed to be a compact electric produced by the scrappy startup helmed by serial car company founder and designer Henrik Fisker. But the program was paused amid "financial difficulty” in March 2024. By that summer, Fisker had filed for bankruptcy.
Be Patient?
Buick EV
Delayed July 2024
At one point, General Motors’ Buick brand was positioned as the automaker’s greenest. Now, a spokesperson for Buick says its first electrified car is postponed. Meanwhile, GM’s 2018 promise to sell only electric vehicles by 2035 has been quietly scrapped. Just last month, GM said it would spend $4 billion in the next two years to increase production of electric and gasoline vehicles.
Ferrari EV 2
Delayed June 2025
Ferrari’s second EV model was meant to debut at the end of 2026; now it reportedly won’t make an entrance until at least 2028. Reuters reported that the automaker doesn’t see sustainable demand for an electric sports car and is concerned about the effects of heavy EV batteries on the experience of driving a zippy ride.
Lamborghini Lanzador
Delayed 2024
Lamborghini’s first all-electric vehicle was announced in 2023 for a 2028 production date; now, it won’t make an appearance until 2029 at least. CEO Stephan Winkelmann cited slower-than-predicted electric vehicle adoption and changing regulations. “Life cycles are becoming shorter due to a lot of new regulations coming in each and every year. This is making our life more complex,” he said this month.
Lamborghini Urus
Delayed July 2025
Also delayed, for an even longer while, is Lamborghini’s “Super SUV” EV. The Urus will reportedly remain a plug-in hybrid until 2035.
Porsche 718 EV
Delayed May 2025
Porsche last said that its next-gen, electric 718 was due out “mid-decade.” Perhaps wisely, Porsche never committed to a firm date. Now the vehicle is reportedly delayed not just due to lower-than-expected EV demand but because of supply chain troubles: Battery supplier Northvolt went suddenly bankrupt this year.
Tesla Model 2
Delayed?
Last year, Tesla downgraded long-time plans to build a truly affordable electric car in favor of a revamped but still cheaper offering. At the time, the company said it would begin production of this new vehicle in June 2025. But as the electric-car company emphasizes its small, supervised self-driving taxi service launch in Austin, Texas, it has made no noise about this newer car. Expect an update from CEO Elon Musk this coming week, when the company holds its quarterly earnings call.
