Over the past several months, Ford has committed a tremendous amount of resources to EV and battery development and production. Customers have responded in a big way as vehicles like the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Ford F-150 Lightning, and Ford E-Transit have racked up an impressive number of reservations, to the point where FoMoCo is having trouble meeting the demand for all three. However, The Blue Oval isn’t giving up on ICE-powered vehicles either, and Ford CEO Jim Farley believes that many EV customers will also buy gas-powered vehicles for the foreseeable future.
“And you know what, our BEV customers will want [desirable Ford ICE models] too,” Farley said during a recent virtual fireside chat with auto analyst Rod Lache at the Wolfe Research Global Auto, Auto Tech, and Mobility Conference. “And maybe they just want it for the weekend. But we have the ability to offer our BEV customers specialty products for a very short time period when they need a truck, or they need a Mustang for a track day, or they want a Bronco for their three-day weekend. We can offer that that others can’t.”
It makes sense that EV customers might also want a secondary “lifestyle” vehicle like the Ford Bronco or Ford Mustang, or just an ICE-powered vehicle capable of making long road trips without having to spend a lot of time charging along the way. This also gives Ford a big leg up on its upstart competition like Rivian, as well as more established EV-only automakers like Tesla, as neither can offer that. And as Jim Farley also recently pointed out, Ford has a leg up on those companies in terms of body engineering and paint quality, too.
As Ford continues to build out its EV offerings with a trio of new dedicated platforms, the automaker intends to focus on electrifying its “icons” and commercial vehicles for now. The company is working on doubling its planned global EV production by 2024 but doesn’t currently plan on spinning off that business into its own entity, at least for now.
We’ll have more on Ford’s EV pivot soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
Comments
I disagree. I think most EV buyers are woke individuals that believe everything they read about climate change. Most of them live in cities and have short commutes. ICE buyers rely on things like convenience and towing/hauling capacities over long distances. They also understand that most electric power comes from gas and coal.
Yours are some of the most curiously entertaining opinions on here.
I’m glad you got to use “woke” again in a sentence; it seems so important to you.
I hope you’re feeling better now.
Glad I’m not the only one who noticed that “woke” is mandatory in his comments.
Because more accurate words wouldn’t get past the censors.
EVs will be a novelity for some time to come. It adds hours to any long trips, Mach E can’t tow, seats only 4 comfortably, has range and heat issues in the cold weather. People like to be able to drive 400 miles with a 5 to 10 minute breaks for fuel and bathroom breaks. The East and West coast have plenty of chargers, in between, not many. Computer software bugs continue to follow these cars.
Wrong. I want my lifestyle vehicles to be BEV too. Little to no maintenance, easy to re-fuel at home, no unhealthy exhaust. Electrify America is amazing for cross-country trips in an EV.
Wait til you have yo wait hours in line gor a charge or enter a city with a rolling blackout.
Some of us realize the EV infrastructure lags big time in many rural areas. Thus making it difficult to road trip. Too many of the rural EV charges are a slow 50 and 62.5kW versions as found thru out Michigan. Winter driving reduces EV range making it difficult to plan end easily reach destinations where few chargers exist. Reliability issues exist as one of the few EV chargers in the UP of Michigan has malfunctioned for nearly 5 months now.
Transitions from one major system to another always take time…much longer than most would expect or anticipate. EV issues such as range and charging time and number of charging ports will continue to be a negative for many. EV’s for short trips and ICE for longer journeys.
Also, for those who don’t have access to a garage, how will charging you EV from the curb work? Many city dwellers don’t have access to a garage, so the shorter trip advantage is kind of blunted by this fact. Even if a system for charging from street side is developed, what about vandalism and theft of said units?
That is a significant hurdle with no easy answer. There are millions of people that live in apartment and condo complexes that have insufficient parking. Locally, that means people park all over the place, down side streets, alleys, on the sides or roads. Politicians don’t approve enough parking because their developer donors don’t want to waste the land when they can build more housing on it. Now, housing in so expensive that multiple families are living in dwellings but they have several cars with no place to park them. There is a “peeling the onion” problem with EVs that expose a great many other shortcomings which all add up to problems with EV adoption.
At least Mr. Farley is smart enough to see there is a role for both kinds of vehicles and different customers will want different things. EVs will take a very long time to roll out. If it is up to the customers (and not the government), EVs and ICEs can and should co-exist peacefully.
I wonder why Ford is not thinking along the lines of Hybrid cars and not exclusively electric, it makes no sense to me for Ford to build 100% electric, it’s just not practical.
Because they are businessmen and the federal government is currently handing out money to companies that toe the EV line. When we have a more pragmatic president, EVs will fade into the background.
Nascent technology expands an established industry, and the “No-No-NEVERS!” come flyin’ right out of the woodwork. An electric vehicle isn’t going to threaten your testicular appendages, nor make you declare your pronouns, nor rush off to buy any vehicle you don’t want to buy.
They’re options that an exponentially increasing number of people have expressed demand for. Some of you goose-steppers are treating internal combustion engines like they’re firmly centered in the 2nd amendment.
Quit yer frothing at the mouth and just relax.
Average people–you know, the folks that actually buy cars–can see the long list of problems that need to be overcome for EVs to achieve widespread use. We common folk are also getting hit with a 2×4 called inflation. So, when we have an Administration that purposes chokes off carbon energy to push people into the EV world that they want (consumer demand is not pushing EV implementation) by artificially inflating the cost of gasoline which, in turn, makes everything else more expensive, then we aren’t happy about it.
Sounds to me like Mr. Farley is beginning to waver on his all EV stance. And he should because it’s a not-yet-ready-for-prime-time propulsion system. I’d want all of my current vehicles to be ICEs, but I don’t live in “trendy” California where keeping up with the Joneses (ugh) means having all-EVs in the driveway.
As soon as the free money is stopped the ICE vehicle will be back! We in CT do not have the grid to support these vehicles and adding more grid means higher electric bills which are to high now! As a senior i do not want to stop every hour for a charge. And who is going to fix my EV when we shun Tesla from even expanding there operations in CT. Thank god we have Monaco Ford here to support are ICE vehicles
Most people only drive one vehicle, and keep it for many years since they’re so expensive now. When EVs can drive in the -20 cold weather of Minnesota to Detroit (6-7 hours) with two 5 minute recharge stops, they will be more relevant to the everyday consumer
dont seem like they can even make maverick hybrids I have one ordered 6 months ago NO WORD !!