Stand by for a host of ‘Ford pulls the plug’ headlines: according to Reuters, the car giant is, er, cutting the cord off its Think electric vehicle division due to poor customer demand and lack of government support for the environmentally friendly cars.
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Apparently ditching yet another Jac Nasser idea, Ford, which bought Norway-based Think in 1999 for $23 million and invested $100 million in electric vehicle battery technology, will instead focus on developing fuel cell and hybrid gasoline-electric vehicles to meet environmental regulations for cars and trucks, spokesman Tim Holmes told Reuters.
“The bottom line is we don’t believe that this is the future of environmental transport for the mass market,” Holmes said to Reuters.
Ford will either try to sell Think, or work with the Norwegian government to transform the company to create a viable business, Holmes told Reuters.
The news agency added that Ford hopes to make a decision by the end of September on the future of Think, which has two facilities outside Oslo and employs about 150 people.
GM axed its EV1 electric car a few years ago after disappointing sales and consumer dissatisfaction about short range and long recharge time.
