Ford to invest U.S $ 1 billion in Germany to go all electric by 2026
The United States (U.S.) based multinational automaker, Ford Motor Company has announced to spend U.S. $ 1 billion to modernize its plant at Cologne in Germany, as part of its plans to sell only electric passenger cars in Europe by 2030.
The factory will be overhauled to produce the U.S. carmaker’s first European-built, mass volume all-electric passenger vehicle starting in 2023. By mid-2026, all the passenger cars it sells in Europe will be either all-electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles that have both an internal combustion engine plus a battery and electric motor.
Similarly, the entire commercial vehicle range will be zero emissions capable, all-electric or plug-in hybrid, by 2024, with two-thirds of our commercial vehicle sales expected to be all-electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030.
The announcement comes days after Jaguar, the luxury vehicle brand of British multinational car manufacturer – Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), announced to go entirely electric by 2025.
Speaking on the occasion, the President of Ford, Europe – Stuart Rowley said, “We successfully restructured Ford of Europe and returned to profitability in the fourth quarter of 2020. Now we are charging into an all-electric future in Europe with expressive new vehicles and a world-class connected customer experience. We expect to continue our strong momentum this year in Europe and remain on track to deliver our goal of a six percent EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) margin as part of Ford’s plan to turnaround our global automotive operations.”
He further added, “Our announcement today to transform our Cologne facility, the home of our operations in Germany for 90 years, is one of the most significant Ford has made in over a generation. It underlines our commitment to Europe and a modern future with electric vehicles at the heart of our strategy for growth.”
Taking it to twitter, the official twitter handle of Ford Europe tweeted,
Announced today, #Ford goes “all-in” on electric vehicles in Europe; invests $1bn in transforming Cologne facility into an electrification centre. #GoElectric
— Ford Europe (@FordEu) February 17, 2021
Read more: https://t.co/WS5vZMcHV8 pic.twitter.com/q8fWBprtyF
Ford promises to offer an exceptional range of electrified vehicles, supported by customer-centric digital services and experiences. Prior to his, Ford announced it would invest at least U.S. $ 22 billion worldwide through 2025 to build electric vehicles. It has already invested U.S. $ 7 billion between 2016 and 2020.
The tougher European regulations which focus on environment and increasing demand for electric cars have made them shift to electric model. Europe has imposed aggressive targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, and carmakers face huge potential fines if they do not comply. This has helped Europe pace ahead of the U.S. on adoption of electric vehicles.
According to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ford Motor Company – Jim Farley, about 10% of the total car sales in Europe in December 2020, were purely electric. Around 54% of the total car sales in Norway in 2020, were electric.
Talking of Europe, the German carmaker Volkswagen in currently the market leader in electric cars. Global electric car leader, Tesla (TSLA) is building its first European factory outside of Berlin, which is due to open later this year. Electric vehicles are expected eventually to be cheaper to produce than traditional gasoline-powered cars.
