In 2021, Ford announced plans to sell exclusively electric cars in Europe by 2030. Two years later, amid declining electric car sales, the brand admitted that its European division may not be fully electric by the end of the decade as planned. Ultimately it depends on market demand.
This was announced by Martin Sander, head of Ford’s passenger car business in Europe Financial Times Conference “Future of the Car”. “If we see strong demand, for example for plug-in hybrid vehicles, we will offer them,” he said, according to the industry newspaper Automotive News Europe (Subscription required). He admitted that demand for electric cars was “weaker” than originally expected.
Ford still plans to go all-electric in Europe — it has to, since a law due to come into force in 2035 will ban the sale of most new internal combustion engine vehicles — but instead it will “take our path to 100% electric.” Find drives”. “, says Sander. As of this writing, the European range of electric vehicles includes the Explorer, which is unrelated to the American-market SUV and is based on a Volkswagen platform, the Mustang Mach-E and a version of the Transit van. More electric cars, including a second Volkswagen-based model, are on the way.
The political climate in Europe is creating difficulties for Ford and many of its rivals and rivals. Automakers can build the cars regulators want and lose sales, or they can build the cars buyers want and pay fines. This tug-of-war will undoubtedly cause friction between the auto industry and lawmakers in the coming years, but Ford has already found a way out: It will simply distribute fewer cars to certain markets.
“We will not pay any penalties. We will not sell electric vehicles at a huge loss just to buy compliance. The only alternative is to take our supplies of ICE vehicles to the UK and sell them elsewhere,” explained Sanders. refers to the fines Ford must pay in the United Kingdom, its largest European market, if the company fails to meet electric vehicle quotas. This could be problematic as there are not many markets for right-hand drive vehicles worldwide. Australia wants trucks; Japan-only models dominate the Japanese market.
Nearby Cadillac recently came to the same conclusion. Its plans to offer a purely electric range by 2030 have failed. John Roth, the brand’s global vice president, admitted that gasoline-powered cars will be sold alongside electric models for “a few years yet.”