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Ford Authority

Chairman Bill Ford Says Company Is Not Ready For Chinese EVs

The Blue Oval’s ongoing transition away from internal combustion vehicles will see the company introduce more battery powered electric vehicles as the decade rolls on, and while gasoline-powered automobiles are still dominant in North America, other regions are sprinting at a breakneck pace toward EVs. Automakers from China are part of the equation in Europe, but at this point, it is unclear when they will reach North American shores. Regardless, Ford executives are convinced they will cross the Pacific eventually, with chairman Bill Ford telling CNN contributor Fareed Zakaria that at this point, the company is not ready for their arrival.

Ford Drive Mustang Mach-E - Exterior 001 - Front Three Quarters

When speaking on Fareed Zakaria GPS, Bill Ford somewhat candidly said that the company is unprepared to go against the EVs currently coming out of China. “Probably not quite yet. We need to get ready. And we are getting ready.” He later added “they’re not here, but they’ll come here, we think, at some point.” “We learned a lot. When I look back when the Japanese came to America, we weren’t ready. Then the Koreans came, and we really weren’t ready. Well guess what, it’s going to happen again and we are going to be ready because we are acutely aware of what not being ready will do to us.”

At this point, it isn’t completely clear what he meant by those comments, but the company’s current goal is to dramatically scale EV production while broadly shifting to a profitable business model for its second generation battery electric products. The Blue Oval hopes to achieve a two million production run rate annually worldwide for EV production, made possible by all-new plants and the conversion of preexisting facilities to assemble full electric vehicles. In Europe, the Ford Explorer EV utilizes VW tech, which allowed the company to field an EV in that segment quicker than if it waited to introduce a product running solely on a Ford platform.

As Ford Authority previously reported, Chinese automakers are now being viewed as a bigger threat at Ford than in the past. CEO Farley recently stated that those companies are a major concern within the company, although rivals such as Tesla have been previously cited as prime competitors as well. And Ford’s traditional rivals are still in the mix too, as the company expects Ford Blue (its gasoline powered products) to gain market share and grow over the next several years.

We’ll be following Ford’s EV ambitions closely, so subscribe to Ford Authority for comprehensive Ford news coverage.

Ed owns a 1986 Ford Taurus LX, and he routinely daydreams about buying another one, a fantasy that may someday become a reality.

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Comments

  1. You can buy a Chinese EV for as low as $6k. Ford can’t compete with those low priced Chinese options. I think that is what he is referring to.

    Reply
    1. That EV for 6K wouldn’t pass US regulations for safety, tech features and crash testing. It will not be coming here.

      Reply
  2. All electric Fords will be Chinese with their batterys.

    Reply
  3. Bring back the damn cars already. I don’t want a truck, SUV or crossover. I like Fords, but when I’m ready to buy an EV, my business is going to whoever’s making a nice selection of sedans and hatchbacks.

    Reply
    1. I couldn’t agree more with your sentiment. Hopefully, like most things, the SUV craze will wain, and folks will circle back…

      Reply
    2. I totally agree! Ford has the Modeo in China….why not here???

      Reply
      1. That’s Mondeo!

        Reply
  4. Bill Ford should be worried about endless recalls FoMoCo has had lately under Failure Farley than anything else.

    Reply
  5. It’s pretty obvious that the American consumer doesn’t care about fuel efficiency. All you have to do is travel a major interstate near any metropolitan area. Tons of pickups and suv’s at 80 mph with no load or passengers.

    Reply
  6. Chinese EV’s are already here. Volvo is a Chinese company (Zhejiang Geely Holding Group). America needs to wakeup before it’s too late.

    Reply
  7. China is eating our lunch.

    Reply
  8. We need to slap some tariffs on the China vehicles and require their companies to build here with local suppliers. Run them thru the same hoops China makes our manufacturers run thru to do business in China. Current Russian situation shows why the free people of the world need to steer clear of doing business with repressive regimes.

    Reply
  9. New slogan : Have you driven a Chinese Ford lately?

    Reply
  10. Foreign companies can’t even make cars in China without a Chinese partner. Importing and selling cars in China is crazy expensive due to ridiculous import tax. We need to emulate their rules

    Reply

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