As part of its Q4 2020 financial results announcement this week, Ford Motor Co. unveiled a new commitment to the development of electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous vehicles (AVs) that essentially doubles their previous investments in those future-mobility products. Ford now plans to invest about $7 billion on AVs over 10 years through 2025—$5 billion of that from 2021 forward—as part of its Ford Mobility initiatives. In addition, Ford will invest at least $22 billion in vehicle electrification through 2025.
Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said the company is “all in and will not cede ground to anyone” in developing and delivering connected electric vehicles and services in mainstream areas of strength for Ford: pickups, commercial vans, and SUVs.
“The transformation of Ford is happening and so is our leadership of the EV revolution and development of autonomous driving,” said Farley. “We’re now allocating a combined $29 billion in capital and tremendous talent to these two areas, and bringing customers high-volume, connected electric SUVs, commercial vans, and pickup trucks.”
Farley continued: “We are accelerating all our plans—breaking constraints, increasing battery capacity, improving costs, and getting more electric vehicles into our product cycle plan. People are responding to what Ford is doing today, not someday.”
According to Farley, the Mustang Mach-E has been receiving positive customer and media reviews and will be followed by the first E-Transit commercial van (late 2021) and an all-electric F-150 pickup (mid-2022). Farley added that EVs will be fundamental to the Lincoln luxury brand and the Transit commercial lineup, the latter across a variety of body styles and customized interiors.
Ford’s development and delivery of connected vehicles will be enhanced by a new, six-year partnership with Google announced earlier this week. The two companies are establishing a collaborative group—Team Upshift—to unlock personalized consumer experiences and create and make the most of data-driven opportunities.
The new relationship between Ford and Google will help Ford modernize its operations, create new processes, partner for expertise and efficiency, and create must-have products and services by leveraging Google’s operating system, apps, and services.
As EVs become predominant in Ford’s lineup, dedicated manufacturing capacity for them will expand around the world. The company is currently producing—or plans to produce—electric vehicles in Michigan (F-150); Missouri (E-Transit); two plants in Canada (SUVs); and Mexico and China (Mustang Mach-E), with others to follow.
The future-mobility plan from Ford comes one week after its strongest competitor, General Motors, announced its plan to transition to an all-electric vehicle lineup by 2035 and be fully carbon-neutral by 2040. That plan includes a rollout of 30 all-electric models globally by mid-decade; 40% percent of GM’s U.S. models will be battery-electric vehicles by the end of 2025. GM also said it will invest $27 billion in electric and self-driving vehicles in the next five years, up from the $20 billion planned before the COVID-19 pandemic.
