The Electric: From Big Auto to Big Oil, a Big Bet on a Long Tail for Combustion

For more than two years, Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen have followed a similar script: In just a few years, each company claimed, it would puncture Tesla’s dominance of electric vehicle sales and possibly overtake the industry leader. Now, though, all three have ripped up their talking points—and turned back the clock: In place of more chest-beating about Tesla, the companies are postponing expanded EV production, instead predicting outsize profits selling big internal combustion engine SUVs and pickups.

The change of heart coincides with the biggest oil deals in years—ExxonMobil is paying $59.5 billion to acquire shale fracker Pioneer Natural Resources, and Chevron is buying Hess for $53 billion—and telegraphs a new industry sentiment: The ICE and fossil fuel age is not dead yet.