Our ability to attract and retain talented and highly skilled employees is critical to our success and competitiveness. Attracting and retaining employees who are highly skilled in their areas is critical to thriving in an increasingly competitive landscape. In particular, our vehicles and connected services increasingly rely on software and hardware that is highly technical and complex and our success in this area is dependent upon our ability to retain and recruit the best talent. The market for highly skilled workers and leaders in our industry is extremely competitive. In addition to compensation considerations, current and potential employees are increasingly placing a premium on culture and other various intangibles, such as working for companies with a clear purpose and strong brand reputation, flexible work arrangements, and other considerations, such as embracing sustainability and inclusion initiatives. Failure to attract, hire, develop, motivate and retain highly qualified employees could disrupt our operations and adversely affect our strategic plans.
Our ability to maintain profitability is dependent upon our ability to timely fund and introduce new and improved vehicle models, including EVs, that are able to attract a sufficient number of consumers. We operate in a very competitive industry with market participants routinely introducing new and improved vehicle models and features, at decreasing price points, designed to meet rapidly evolving consumer expectations. Producing new and improved vehicle models, including EVs, that preserve our reputation for designing, building and selling safe, high-quality cars, crossovers, trucks and SUVs is critical to our long-term profitability. Successful launches of our new vehicles are critical to our short-term profitability. The new vehicle development process can take two years or more, and a number of factors may lengthen that time period. Because of this product development cycle and the various elements that may contribute to consumers’ acceptance of new vehicle designs, including competitors’ product introductions, technological innovations, fuel prices, general economic conditions, regulatory developments, including tax credits or other government policies in various countries, transportation infrastructure and changes in quality, safety, reliability and styling demands and preferences, an initial product concept or design may not result in a saleable vehicle or a vehicle that generates sales in sufficient quantities and at high enough prices to be profitable. Our high proportion of fixed costs, both due to our significant investment in property, plant and equipment as well as other requirements of our collective bargaining agreements, which limit our flexibility to adjust personnel costs to changes in demands for our products, may further exacerbate the risks associated with incorrectly assessing demand for our vehicles.
Our long-term strategy is dependent upon our ability to profitably deliver a strategic portfolio of EVs. The production and profitable sale of EVs has become increasingly important to our long-term business as we continue our transition to an all-electric future. Our EV strategy is dependent on our ability to (i) deliver a strategic portfolio of high-quality EVs that are competitive and meet consumer demands; (ii) scale our EV manufacturing capabilities; (iii) reduce the costs associated with the manufacture of EVs, particularly with respect to battery cells and packs; (iv) increase vehicle range and the rate of charge and energy density of our batteries; (v) efficiently source sufficient materials for the manufacture of battery cells; (vi) license and monetize our proprietary platforms and related innovations; (vii) successfully invest in new technologies relative to our peers; (viii) develop new software and services; and (ix) leverage our scale, manufacturing capabilities and synergies with existing ICE vehicles. Our progress towards these objectives has impacted, and may continue to impact, the need to record losses on our EV-related inventory, including battery cells. If we are unable to successfully deliver on our EV strategy, it could materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and growth prospects, and could negatively impact our brand and reputation.
The success of our long-term strategy is dependent on consumer adoption of EVs. Consumer adoption of EVs has been slower than anticipated, and has been and in the future could be impacted by numerous factors, including the breadth of the portfolio of EVs available; perceptions about EV features, quality, safety, performance and cost relative to ICE vehicles; the range over which EVs may be driven on a given battery charge; the proliferation and speed of charging infrastructure, in particular with respect to public EV charging stations, and the success of the Company's charging infrastructure programs and strategic joint ventures and other relationships; cost and availability of high fuel-economy ICE vehicles; volatility in energy prices due to increased demand and investments to support electrification efforts; volatility, or a sustained decrease, in the cost of petroleum-based fuel; failure by governments and other third parties to make the investments necessary to make infrastructure improvements, such as greater availability of EV charging stations, and to provide meaningful and fully utilizable economic incentives promoting the adoption of EVs, including production and consumer credits contemplated by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA); and negative feedback from stakeholders impacting investor and consumer confidence in our company or industry. If industry-wide adoption rates continue to be lower than anticipated, we may take portfolio actions to better match the pace of EV adoption, such as not fully utilizing or reducing the capacity of our existing or future plants or reducing production hours or shifts, and we may become subject to claims by suppliers as a result of such actions. We may be unable to successfully deliver on our EV strategy, which could materially and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and growth prospects, and could negatively impact our brand and reputation.