On August 21, famous American car company - Ford announced that it is making major changes to its electric car plan. The company will focus more on hybrid cars at affordable prices after admitting that the US electric car market is not what they expected, as customers are increasingly interested in prices and concerns about the range of car operations.
Accordingly, Ford has abandoned plans for its next electric multi-purpose sports vehicle (SUV). The American car company has decided to replace it with hybrid models, which often provide a shorter battery life, but a longer overall range when combined with gasoline engines.
However, this plan will cost Ford at least $400 million because the company needs to account for the production equipment that has been used to build electric SUVs but is no longer used. At the same time, changes in the plan could cost the company up to 1.5 billion USD.
However, a representative of Ford said that they will improve battery supply and increase production efficiency to save costs. It is expected that only 30% of the company's annual capital expenditure will be spent on pure electric vehicles in the future, down from the previous 40%.
Although it is following Tesla in the electric vehicle manufacturing industry in the US, Ford's electric vehicle business is also developing quite well. Specifically, the Ford F-150 Lightning model is the best-selling electric truck line in the US. However, vehicles using hybrid technology are becoming more and more popular in the US, so Ford has decided to meet the needs of customers at the present time.
Ford said it will continue to produce electric vehicles but at a slower pace. The next electric vehicle model that the company will " launch" is an electric valve, expected to launch in 2026. Ford's goal is to compete with Rivian - a company that has signed a contract with Amazon to provide electric valve cars for Amazon's delivery service.
According to the plan, Ford will also develop an electric truck model that the company calls a "breakthrough", called: Project T3. This truck will have a two-way charging feature, which means it can provide electricity to the user's home in case of a power outage. The major American automaker is expected to introduce this truck in the second half of 2027, later than originally planned. Ford also said that improvements in battery manufacturing will help reduce costs for this truck.
On the other hand, Ford said that hybrid vehicle sales (petrol and electric hybrid vehicles) reached 53,822 units, up 56% over the same period in 2023 in the second quarter of 2024 and is a new record (quarterly) for Ford since the company started supplying hybrid models more than 20 years ago.
automakers including Ford have relied on hybrid vehicles to make it easier to transition to electric vehicles and help meet the government's increasingly tight fuel-efficient standards.
Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley said he has withdrawn some of the company's electric vehicle ambitions to better suit consumer demand. In the coming time, hybrid cars will be a top priority of Ford to help customers look forward to the future of battery driving.
Ford is also focusing on larger electric trucks and SUVs, as well as smaller, affordable electric vehicles being developed by the California-based skunkworks group.
It can be said that Ford's strong commercial business activities have contributed to boosting profits and the manufacturer is betting on software-related services in this unit to boost profits in the coming years.
