In early March, a new Ford reorganization plan was announced that will effectively split the automaker into two distinct entities – Model e, which will focus on EVs, and Ford Blue, which will handle the ICE side of things, with a major focus on quality on both side. Ford dealers have also been asked to specialize in one or the other, or even other parts of the automaker’s business, including the Ford Pro commercial entity. Regardless, General Motors has already said that it will not be following suit, while Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares went so far as to criticize the move. Now, it seems the Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz won’t be emulating the Ford reorganization plan either, according to Automotive News.
“We think making the best use of ICE assets to be fast and competitive in the electric world is the best way forward for us,” Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess said during the automakers’s earnings call this week.
Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz finance chief Harald Wilhelm noted that there has been a “very intense debate on how we want to transform Mercedes moving forward.” Regardless, he also added that “We are not pursuing the strategy to break up the company in an ICE part and ‘the good part’ … or an old part and the new part. We are transforming the whole company and transforming it into the electric world.” In fact, Wilhelm went on to call the separation of ICE vehicles and EVs potentially “devastating” to the automaker’s synergies.
Meanwhile, Ford clearly disagrees with these assessments, and it isn’t alone in that regard. At least two other automakers intend to follow a similar path, for now – Geely, which is working on a Polestar SPAC reverse-merger listing, and Renault, which is considering a separate listing for its EV assets.
We’ll have more on this Ford reorganization plan soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for continuous Ford news coverage.
Comments
My sense is Ford did this because they want to shed all their legacy costs (read: pensions and dealership agreements) from the ICE division and wipe the slate clean with their new EV company. I also think it is a really bad idea. I believe that the future irony will be that the EV group will need the ICE group to survive, and not the other way around as intended.
Agreed!
HAlf of Ford/Lincoln dealers will be out of business soon and I don’t believe the EV side will succeed.
They are not following it because the plan is flawed. How many of these wonderful plans have we had in the last 20 years at Ford? I am sure this one is not different.