Ford made waves last week when it announced that it was splitting its business into two separate entities – Model e, which will focus on the EV side of its business, and Ford Blue, which is centered around ICE-powered vehicles. Most applauded this move, seeing it as an important first step toward competing with the likes of Tesla, though Wall Street does have some concerns about Ford’s goals related to the split. Regardless, frequent FoMoCo critic and Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares isn’t as impressed by the Ford reorganization plan, as he recently explained to The Detroit News.
“If you make this kind of breakdown from an ethical HR management, you have to explain to people who are working in the old world what is going to be their future,” Tavares said. “Their work is funding electrification, and you are clearly breaking down on two paths – one path that’s going to grow, hopefully profitably, and another path that is going to decrease and eventually disappear one day. So, from that perspective, I think that the management of this kind of breakdown is creating an HR challenge. I trust my teammates at Ford will be able to fix it. But I think it’s the question that we should be raising. Overall, it’s a nice play, but I think it’s not the important play for the consumers.”
Tavares has long been a critic of Ford’s decision to invest heavily in EVs and ramp up production of those vehicles significantly in the coming years, most recently complaining about the cost of EVs, as well as quality problems that might arise from speeding up development and production. At the same time, Stellantis announced its own major EV initiative last July, which involves investing $35.5 billion in electrification as it aims to boost its own EV lineup. The automaker also teased an electric version of its Ram pickup last summer, but it’s worth noting that no concept version of this vehicle has been revealed yet, and it’s not expected to launch until 2024 – two years after the Ford F-150 Lightning launches this summer.
In the meantime, the Ford Bronco and Ford Bronco Sport are both stealing more customers away from Stellantis brand Jeep than any other brand, while the latter crossover even beat the Wrangler in a recent comparison test. Regardless, that didn’t stop Jim Morrison, head of Jeep in North America, from poking fun at the Bronco recently.
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Comments
I agree with what he said. Now, as far as the names of the split are concerned, “Model e” is – in my view – a non-starter. Just more plays in “e” this and “e” that. It will be as dated as those badges on mid-80s cars bragging about having EFI, or the 1950s when the rear fenders of Buicks said “Dynaflow”, or Fords with “Fordomatic”.
Why not call the electric vehicle divison, “Mercury”? Your thoughts?
Oh, the IRONY!! This from a guy whose company plans to be all electric in five years!! Good luck with THAT!!
Exactly. His opinion here is a bit worthless.
His opinion is kinda moot. Stellantis can’t figure out what it wants to do with Dodge or Chrysler, let alone have room to criticize Ford.
The sad part is that Ford dealers are the ones who brought this change upon themselves. The combination of glorified ignorance on EV products and insane markups have made Ford bring down the hammer to compete in the EV space. Furthermore, Ford has been expanding the brand with it’s new products, not cannibalizing its own sales.
Regardless of what folks think, EVs and EV sales are not slowing down. Get. Over. It. Already.
“Regardless of what folks think, EVs and EV sales are not slowing down. Get. Over. It. Already.”
Their great-great grandfathers were grumbling when they went down to the Studebaker dealer, and found the first trucks; they couldn’t buy a horse-drawn wagon anymore. Why? Because Studebaker back then, like many auto makers today, evolved with the times.
Studebaker evolved again in the mid-1960s. How? They stopped making cars. They didn’t “go out of business”. They simply stopped making cars while continuing in industrial equipment (Worthington), petrochemicals (STP) and superchargers (Paxton), among other things.
Soon, Ford and others will no longer make ICE vehicles, just like Western Union stopped offering telegrams, Telex, and TWX. Just like American Express handled their last parcel decades ago, and GM stopped making home appliances.