Auto NewsFord Motor is developing affordable small electric cars to stop its electric car business from losing money and competing with Tesla and Chinese automakers, Bloomberg reported.Ford Motor Chief Executive Jim Farley said Ford is realigning its electric car strategy away from large, expensive electric cars because high prices are the biggest barrier to mainstream consumers buying electric cars.Farley told analysts on a conference call: “We are also recapitalizing and turning more of our attention to small electric vehicle offerings.” Ford Motor, he said, “made a silent bet two years ago” on assembling a team to build a low-cost electric vehicle platform.The small team is led by Alan Clarke, Ford Motor’s senior executive director of electric vehicle development. Alan Clarke, who joined Ford Motor two years ago, has been developing models for Tesla for more than 12 years.
Farley revealed that the new electric vehicle platform will be the base platform for its “multiple models” and should generate profits. Ford’s current all-electric model lost $4.7 billion last year and is expected to grow to $5.5 billion this year.”We are far from reaching our profitability potential,” Farley said. “All of our EV teams are firmly focused on the cost and efficiency of EV products because the ultimate competitors will be reasonably priced Tesla and Chinese EVs.”In addition, in order to make more profit, Ford plans to cut $2 billion in costs, mainly in areas such as materials, freight and production operations.
Post time: Feb-19-2024