According to foreign media reports, people familiar with the matter said Ford plans to announce on May 26th local time that the company is developing two dedicated pure electric vehicle platforms, one for full-size trucks and SUV production, and the other for car and crossover production to catch up with GM, Volkswagen and Tesla in the global electrification competition.
Ford will introduce an ambitious plan to investors at its Capital Markets Day (Capital Markets Day) event, which will last several years and cost billions of dollars, as part of the plan to create a platform dedicated to pure electric vehicles.
These platforms will provide Ford with a common architecture, including shared chassis components, electric motors and battery packs, which will provide the basis for Ford's future electric vehicles and enable Ford to simplify and reduce all costs from logistics to manufacturing as it shifts from a global product lineup dominated by fossil fuels.
Ford will also provide more details about its long-range battery strategy at the investor event on May 26, including the recently announced battery joint venture with South Korean battery maker SK Innovation, as well as broader goals for electric, commercial and self-driving cars, according to people familiar with the matter.
Ford has previously said it would spend $22 billion to electrify its lineup in the Americas, Europe and China by 2025. Ford plans to launch at least nine all-electric cars and crossovers by 2025, as well as at least three electric trucks, trucks and large SUV, models, including the second-generation Fmur150 Lightning and Mustang Mach-E, according to sources.
However, what Ford CEO Jim Farley (Jim Farley) cannot predict is whether and how many consumers will accept electric cars, even if the new battery-powered cars can match or surpass current internal combustion vehicles in terms of price, performance and operating costs. With the exception of Tesla, who has a 100% electrified product line-up, almost all carmakers share this concern.
Ford's traditional competitors have caught up, with both Volkswagen and GM committing tens of billions of dollars to electrify the same market as Ford, but timing is more aggressive. Both Volkswagen and GM will have at least two dedicated electric vehicle platforms, and many of their future cars will be based on these two platforms.
Volkswagen launched its first new electric car in Europe last year, ID.3, General Motors will begin production of new Hummer (Hummer) electric pickups in the United States later this year, and the two companies will launch more electric models, whose key components will be shared with the two models.
Ford launched the Mustang Mach-E, an electric crossover based on a new dedicated platform, internally named GE, earlier this year, according to sources. Sam Fiorani, head of global forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, said an updated version of the platform, GE2, would be launched in mid-2023 and would support new electric vehicles from Ford and Lincoln. According to sources, the platform will eventually be used as the basis for replacing Mustang coupe and Mach-E.
Sources also revealed that from 2023, Ford will use the second passenger car platform, Volkswagen's European version of the MEB architecture, on at least two new models. In February, Ford said its European passenger car lineup would be all-electric by 2030.
Ford has said it plans to build a car using the Volkswagen MEB platform in Cologne, Germany, from 2023. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Ford was planning to decide to license Volkswagen's electric vehicle technology to its second electric model in Europe.
The redesigned Fmuri 150 Lightning will be launched at the end of 2025 and is expected to be the first model to adopt the new TE1 truck architecture, Fiorani said. The first generation of the Lightning, which is expected to be unveiled next spring, uses a platform that largely borrows from the standard Fmuri 150.
Ford may also use the new TE1 platform for electric versions of Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition, the source said. In addition, Ford will launch a new electric car, possibly a medium-sized pickup, which will be based on the platform of Rivian, an electric vehicle startup invested by Ford.
