Ford Motor Co. will more than double spending on electrified vehicles, amplifying its investment in a segment that still comprises a fraction of the auto market.
The carmaker will shell out $11 billion by 2022, Jim Farley, president of global markets, said during a presentation at the Detroit auto show. That’s up from the $4.5 billion that Ford said in late 2015 it would invest through the end of the decade.
“This $11 billion you’re seeing, that means we’re all-in now,” Executive Chairman Bill Ford told reporters in Detroit. “The only question is will the customers be there with us and we think they will.”
After electric vehicle darling Tesla Inc. surpassed Ford in market value last year, the second-largest U.S. automaker replaced then-Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields. His replacement Jim Hackett has vowed to cut costs and drop some car models from the lineup to refocus the company’s future on sport utility vehicles, trucks and electrification.
Poised for Growth
With battery costs declining rapidly and regulators around the globe cracking down on the internal combustion engine, automakers have been rushing to step up their game with regards to all-electric models. While the segment comprises less that 1 percent of annual deliveries in the U.S., global demand is expected to rise as governments phase out gasoline and diesel engines and batteries reach price parity with traditional powertrains.
Ford plans to field 40 electrified models in total, including 16 battery-only vehicles, executives said at the show. The company identified just one model by name coming in 2020, called the Mach 1, that will be a performance battery-electric SUV.
“The real news for me is not just the doubling of investment, it’s where we’re playing,” Farley told reporters. “We’re starting to telegraph where we’re going to play in electrified business around the world, and that is to electrify iconic nameplates, and it’s going to be higher transaction-price vehicles.”