Ford set to electrify Europe with a billion-dollar factory switch
Ford is getting ready to flip the off switch for ICE cars in Europe. The Blue Oval brand just announced a one-billion dollar plan to convert one of its biggest factories in Cologne, Germany to exclusively make EVs.
The first car is set to launch in 2023, but Ford has yet to say exactly what it will be. Our bets are on a compact SUV, a little smaller than the highly-acclaimed Mach-E, and more suited to for Europe’s narrower roads.
Ford has committed that by the middle of 2026—just five years from now—100 per cent of its passenger vehicles sold in Europe will be zero emissions capable. That means pure electric or at least plug-in hybrid. Commercial vehicles will get there even earlier in 2024. All Ford of Europe vehicles will aim to then be fully electric by 2030.
The move is part of a $22 billion global investment by Ford in electric vehicles between now and 2025 and follows on from Jaguar Land Rover’s announcement that it will also soon be all-in on electric vehicles. GM has set itself a deadline of 2035 to be fully electron-powered and is throwing $27 billion at the problem, shooting to release 30 EVs in the next five years.
Get your gas fix while you can. Whether you like it or not the future of mainstream motoring is shaping up to be definitively electric.
Announced today, #Ford goes “all-in” on electric vehicles in Europe; invests $1bn in transforming Cologne facility into an electrification centre. #GoElectric
Read more: https://t.co/WS5vZMcHV8 pic.twitter.com/q8fWBprtyF
— Ford Europe (@FordEu) February 17, 2021
