In an interview carried on the LinkedIn social media platform, Ford CEO Jim Farley has summarised Ford’s current strategic position on electrification in the North American market.
Ford has been losing money in its EV division and has projected up to $5.5bn in losses for its electric vehicle (EV) and software operations in 2025. Last year, Ford canned a planned three-row electric SUV and delayed a next gen e-pickup, measures seen as part of a drive to lower costs and be cost competitive on BEVs with Chinese OEMs.
Farley's latest remarks appear to reinforce Ford's strategic priority to develop low-cost BEVs, albeit while not losing sight of healthy demand for some of its hybrid models.
In the interview, Farley told revered journalist and author Walter Isaacson, that Ford is aiming to build an affordable EV that would be the ‘Model T of EVs’.
In response to Isaacson’s question about Ford apparently taking its foot of the EV accelerator pedal, Farley pointed out that it is addressing a range of electrified market needs.
“We’re changing our profile in line with demand,” Farley said. “We’ve been number two to Tesla for three years. But we’re number three to hybrids to Toyota and Honda, which people don’t know. We’re 80% market share in hybrids for trucks.
“The F-150 which is the best selling vehicle in the United States for 47 years - 25% of all of them [sold today] have a hybrid system.
“Why are people buying F-150 hybrid? Well, because of ‘Pro Power Onboard’. People are really interested in energy independence in Texas, in Florida and California.
“So I would say, we’re putting more energy and more investment in hybrid, and we’re re-directing our capital because we saw what happened in this first innings of EVs. We’re going super affordable and commercial.
“We are not going to be investing in $50,000 to $60,000 SUVs.
“$30,000 EVs and commercial EVs, because that’s where we think the market is going.
On the matter of an affordable EV he said that there are “really none” on sale in the US and that Ford has a project inside the company to address that, but is not yet ready to go public.
However, he pointedly added: “We’re going to build the Model T of EVs.”
