Let’s build more unprofitable EV’s and Europe will save Ford. Really?
Ford Authority: Over the past couple of years, Ford CEO Jim Farley has clearly outlined the automaker’s future direction, and it’s one that will include a rather sharp shift toward electrification. However, FoMoCo isn’t exiting the ICE business anytime soon, but does plan on reinventing that lineup by focusing on passion brands and exiting slow-selling or low-margin segments, much in the way it stopped selling sedans in the U.S. years ago. However, the Ford CEO provided even more clarity on this matter during the automaker’s recent earnings call by noting that The Blue Oval won’t be making and selling ICE-powered two-row crossovers in the future, too.
“So I’m very optimistic about our eight percent because we are not going to be playing in the two-row commodity crossover market because that’s – because Ford’s tried that in the ICE business and it didn’t really work out for us,” Farley said when asked about the company’s profit margin target. “We want to play our hand, our strength, commercial, truck, larger vehicles on the category side.”
These comments make quite a bit of sense given the fact that Farley previously stated that the Ford Escape is facing cancellation, while a recently released product road map shows the ICE crossover being replaced by an all-electric version in 2026. Additionally, as Ford Authority reported over a year ago, both the Ford Edge and Lincoln Nautilus are set to be discontinued after the 2023 model year.
Meanwhile, all-electric versions of both the Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator are slated to replace Edge and Nautilus production at the Oakville Assembly plant in Canada. Regardless, at least until the second-generation Ford EV models launch, the automaker’s electrified vehicles aren’t expected to be profitable – nor look just like their ICE counterparts, either. However, in Europe – where Ford expects to transform its entire passenger vehicle lineup to EVs by 2030 – the Kuga and Puma are expected to be the automaker’s last ICE-powered models in that region.