Car makers are sounding more comfortable about building EVs at scale, at least on the factory side of the equation.
That is the broad takeaway from ABB Robotics’ latest Automotive Manufacturing Outlook Survey, which suggests EV production is starting to look less like a costly disruption and more like a process the industry increasingly understands.
ABB said more than two-thirds of manufacturers expect EV output to rise in 2026 versus 2025. It also said 51% of respondents believe EVs and their key components are easier to manufacture than a year ago, while only 8% think they have become harder.
Costs appear to be moving in the same direction. ABB said 41% of respondents reported lower EV manufacturing costs over the past 12 months, while 39% said costs were stable. Only 21% said costs had risen. That does not mean EVs have suddenly become cheap or simple, but it does suggest that the production side is becoming more predictable as platforms mature and supply chains settle down.
Still, the story is not quite that simple. The same survey points to even stronger near-term confidence in hybrids, which tells you manufacturers are still hedging rather than charging blindly towards an all-EV future.
Automotive Manufacturing Solutions, which partnered ABB on the survey, said the wider 2025 findings showed cautious optimism around both hybrids and EVs against a backdrop of stagnant vehicle sales, job losses and delayed investment.
In other words, factories may be getting better at building EVs, but boardrooms are still responding to patchy demand and tougher market conditions.
The survey also needs to be read in context. ABB is, after all, a robotics and automation supplier, so it has every reason to emphasise automation as the answer.
AMS’ own summary says improving cost control was the top response strategy at 33%, followed by increased investment in automation and robotics at 31%, then more flexible and modular manufacturing at 29%.
The findings are useful, but they also happen to support ABB’s sales story.
Still, the survey does point to something real. Carmakers are no longer wrestling with the basic question of whether they can build EVs. They largely can.
The harder question now is whether they can build them profitably, in the right numbers, and alongside hybrids and ICE models without getting caught out by demand swings.
On that front, the industry sounds more settled than it did a year ago, even if it is not exactly relaxed.
