Ford may be planning a compact electric car for 25,000 dollars
Ford CEO Jim Farley mentioned that the company is working on a new platform for low-cost electric cars at the beginning of February during a conference call on the 2023 business figures. However, he did not give any details. Bloomberg now reports, citing an insider, that Ford is planning a compact SUV, a small pickup, and possibly a third model based on the new platform that could be used for ride-hailing services. According to insider information, the first of these models will launch at the end of 2026 and will cost around 25,000 dollars.
Bloomberg states that Alan Clarke, who moved from Tesla to Ford two years ago, is responsible for developing the new platform. According to the report, he led the development of the Tesla Model Y. At Ford, Clarke leads a development team in Irvine, California. The new EV platform will produce compact electric cars with lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. However, other battery technologies are also being investigated to further reduce costs, the news agency quotes the insider as saying.
This comes after Ford again reported high losses for its Model e electric car division. In 2023, the division’s losses totalled 4.7 billion dollars. The last three months of the year were the most loss-making quarter at around -1.6 billion US dollars. So, the trend also points downwards. One reason is that Ford’s electric vehicle sales are stagnating. Ford also cites “an extremely competitive pricing environment, along with strategic investments in the development of clean-sheet, next-generation EVs.” Material costs have also risen.
Ford had to adapt its strategy given the lower demand and the price war instigated by Tesla, CEO Jim Farley said in a telephone call with analysts in February on the occasion of the published annual figures. The company now wants to focus on large electric vehicles such as trucks and vans and low-cost, small electric vehicles. The EV platform mentioned above is intended for the latter. Ford is also planning to place more emphasis on the hybrid market: Hybrid sales could increase by 40 per cent next year, Farley said.
It has been known since the Q3 annual report that Ford is putting the brakes on its EV roadmap. At the time, Ford announced that it would postpone some of its planned multi-billion investments in new production capacities for electric vehicles and batteries. The first concrete consequence is that Ford will realise its LFP battery cell factory in the US on a much smaller scale than initially designed. The carmaker also cancelled plans for a battery plant for EV commercial vehicles planned with LG Energy Solution and Koç in Turkey. The cost-cutting measures also affect a planned second battery factory on a new campus in Kentucky.
At the end of October, Ford cited the billion-euro losses in the Model e electric division and weakening demand as the reason. “Many North America customers interested in buying EVs are unwilling to pay premiums for them over gas or hybrid vehicles, sharply compressing EV prices and profitability,” the manufacturer wrote in a statement.
The construction of Blue Oval City – Ford’s new EV production campus in Tennessee – will continue without change, but other projects – such as those mentioned above – will be postponed or put on hold.
1 Comment