Back in early April, Ford launched a new marketing campaign dubbed “Freedom of Choice,” which touts the automaker’s diverse powertrain lineup that consists of multiple ICE, hybrid, and all-electric products. This series of ads debuted just after FoMoCo shifted gears and delayed some EV investments and new products, all while doubling down on hybrids. Now that Ford has ditched its “overly ambitious” plan to transition its entire European lineup to EVs by 2030, the same campaign makes sense in that region as well, it seems.
“We’re all in from the standpoint of we’re going to compete aggressively, whether it’s a pure ICE, whether it’s a pure battery-electric vehicle, or hybrids in between, because what we’re seeing is customers want that freedom of choice to pick the right powertrain and the right vehicle for their use case,” Marin Gjaja, chief operating officer of Ford Model e, told Autocar in a recent interview.
These comments come on the heels of Chairman Bill Ford saying that he automaker isn’t trying to force anyone into EVs after those types of vehicles have largely failed to meet expected levels of growth in demand, yet continue to grow in terms of sales. CEO Jim Farley also recently threw a bit of cold water on the notion that a total ban on ICE vehicles is feasible at the moment, adding that total electrification doesn’t yet make sense for vehicles like heavy trucks.
As for what its future European lineup will look like, it’s clear that Ford plans to continue to offer a wide range of powertrain options. The automaker is set to add a hybrid model of some sort to its production line at the Valencia Assembly plant in Spain, and may even bring back small cars to that market, to boot.
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Comments
Freedom of choice should make sense for everyone, especially in the “Western nations”. Look at who is pushing for the all EV future, they aren’t the good guys.
I think the quiet, but building buzz about bringing back small cars, particularly those with extra utility capacity, are going to be influential in the coming years. Especially with EV’s growing in popularity. Physics are physics, and less weight simply takes fewer ion stripping regardless of fuel source, to move a vehicle over a certain distance.
Freedom of choice for powertrains maybe but not choice of colors or you’ll have to pay extra for anything not black or white and the color pallet beyond that is very mundane. Not to mention decontenting their vehicles and continuously raising the MSRP’s.
Hey Jim Farley, aren’t you the idiot that was pushing for a total ban on ice vehicles in Europe!?????!!!! You should be fired!