(Bloomberg) —
Ford Motor Co. is boosting its electric-vehicle lineup with seven new models over the next two years across its passenger car and commercial van range to target sales of more than 600,000 battery-powered vehicles.
The U.S. carmaker is also doubling to $2 billion its planned investment at its key European production site in Cologne, Germany, to make electric vehicles as well as a battery assembly facility starting in 2024, Ford said Monday. The push is part of the automaker’s global plan to reach more than 2 million in EV sales.
“This is not a change in strategy, it is an acceleration of our plan to go electric”, Ford Europe Chief Executive Officer Stuart Rowley said on a call with reporters. “We go from two electric vehicle models today to nine in Europe by 2024.”
Ford earlier this month took further steps to accelerate its shift to an electric future with the creation of an all-electric unit dubbed Ford Model e and a combustion-engine division Ford Blue. The company on Monday also stepped up its pledge to go all-electric in Europe and now plans to sell only battery-powered cars in Europe by 2030. Its successful range of light-duty commercial vehicles should become purely electric by 2035.
Two of the new EV models will be produced in Cologne on Volkswagen AG’s electric vehicle platform, Rowley said. Ford in 2019 teamed up with VW to use the German carmaker’s electric-car underpinnings to help gain scale and save costs.
Ford reiterated a margin goal of 6% of earnings before interest and tax by 2023 for Europe, led by its vans business.
“Our commercial vehicles business is growing, we are building on that”, Rowley said.
Separately, Ford also announced an agreement to build a commercial vehicles battery plant with its Turkish partners. Koc Holding AS, Turkey’s biggest conglomerate, signed an initial accord to be part of the joint venture between Ford and South Korea’s SK Innovation Co. to make 30 to 45 gigawatt hours of batteries. The new battery factory will be built near Ankara and could start production by mid decade, if negotiations between the three parties are successful. (Updates with Ford Europe CEO comment in third paragraph)
© 2022 Bloomberg L.P.
