Ford has committed to sell only electric cars in Europe by 2030, with all Ford cars sold in the continent by 2026 expected to be zero-emissions capable.
The brand’s entire commercial vehicle range will also include a zero-emissions capable option, electric or plug-in hybrid, by 2024, with two-thirds of Ford’s commercial vehicle sales expected to be all-electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030.
“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,” said Stuart Rowley, president, Ford of Europe.
“We expect to continue our strong momentum this year in Europe and remain on track to deliver our goal of a six percent EBIT margin as part of Ford’s plan to turnaround our global automotive operations,” he added.
Spearheading Ford’s advance into an all-electric future is a new $1 billion (£720m) investment to modernise its vehicle assembly facility in Cologne, Germany, one of its largest manufacturing centres in Europe.
The investment will transform the existing vehicle assembly operations into the Ford Cologne Electrification Center for the manufacture of electric vehicles, Ford’s first such facility in Europe.
Ford also confirmed that its first European-built, volume all-electric passenger vehicle for European customers will be produced at the facility from 2023, with the potential for a second all-electric vehicle built there under consideration.
The announcement from Ford follows the launch of Jaguar Land Rover’s new strategy to make Jaguar an electric-only car brand within four years.
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Matt has been an automotive journalist for eight years. As senior staff writer he is responsible for the automotive content on Fleet News and also contributes to Automotive Management. Prior to this, Matt worked in the automotive industry for 10 years.
Sage & Onion - 17/02/2021 13:30
This is a very optimistic target by Ford considering they still can't sort out the battery recall on Kuga PHEV's. We have a Kuga PHEV stuck at the dealer since last September still awaiting the "fix" to be done. Are any other fleets experiencing the same or have I just got a rogue car in the order bank?