Ford slows down its electrification plans: what is going on?

Ford announced that it intended to stop selling cars with combustion engines from 2030 onwards. But now, it seems that this date could be pushed back beyond that year. What is the reason for this new decision? Apparently, it joins other brands, which see it as unlikely that the end-of-sale date for cars with combustion engines will be reached in 2035, as had been planned by the European Union.

Electric cars do not seem to have the take-up that was expected of them, and there are not as many sales as had been forecast. So brands are considering delaying the switch to electric vehicles as much as possible. This does not mean that Ford will abandon the electrification of its models, but rather that it will continue with traditional-engine versions for a few more years.

According to an article published in Automotive News Europe, Martin Sanders says that demand for electric cars has not been as high as expected. But one of the options Ford is currently considering is finding out whether there is growing demand for plug-in hybrid cars and meeting it by developing models with that hybrid powertrain.

For the time being, Ford has taken on serious challenges by removing from the market models with a long track record. In April 2022 production of the Ford Mondeo was discontinued at the Almussafes plant, while in December of that same year the EcoSport was discontinued.

In July 2023 the last Ford Fiesta rolled off the assembly line in Cologne, one of the great models of the American brand. For its part, the S-Max/Galaxy MPVs stopped being produced at Almussafes in April 2023. The Ford Focus still remains, with an end-of-production date of 2025, so Ford will shortly be left without its best sales assets in Europe.

In the electric segment, Ford plans to launch an electric version of the Puma at the end of 2024. It will be called E-Gen and will be assembled at the Romanian plant in Craiova. Another electric vehicle that will arrive is the electric Explorer, which will be built on the MEB platform of Volkswagen, and which will begin production this coming June at the Cologne plant.

A launch is also planned for an SUV very similar to the Volkswagen ID.5, an electric SUV that could revive the name Capri. But all of this is subject to that change in planning and to the new developments Ford presents over the coming months, in order to keep models with combustion engines on the European market.

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Ford slows down its electrification plans: what is going on?
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Although Ford assured that from 2030 onwards it would no longer sell any more models of the brand with a combustion engine, low sales are making it reconsider.
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Ford announced that it intended to stop selling cars with combustion engines from 2030 onwards. But now, it seems that this date could be pushed back beyond that year. What is the reason for this new decision? Apparently, it joins other brands, which see it as unlikely that the end-of-sale date for cars with combustion engines will be reached in 2035, as had been planned by the European Union.

Electric cars do not seem to have the take-up that was expected of them, and there are not as many sales as had been forecast. So brands are considering delaying the switch to electric vehicles as much as possible. This does not mean that Ford will abandon the electrification of its models, but rather that it will continue with traditional-engine versions for a few more years.

According to an article published in Automotive News Europe, Martin Sanders says that demand for electric cars has not been as high as expected. But one of the options Ford is currently considering is finding out whether there is growing demand for plug-in hybrid cars and meeting it by developing models with that hybrid powertrain.

For the time being, Ford has taken on serious challenges by removing from the market models with a long track record. In April 2022 production of the Ford Mondeo was discontinued at the Almussafes plant, while in December of that same year the EcoSport was discontinued.

In July 2023 the last Ford Fiesta rolled off the assembly line in Cologne, one of the great models of the American brand. For its part, the S-Max/Galaxy MPVs stopped being produced at Almussafes in April 2023. The Ford Focus still remains, with an end-of-production date of 2025, so Ford will shortly be left without its best sales assets in Europe.

In the electric segment, Ford plans to launch an electric version of the Puma at the end of 2024. It will be called E-Gen and will be assembled at the Romanian plant in Craiova. Another electric vehicle that will arrive is the electric Explorer, which will be built on the MEB platform of Volkswagen, and which will begin production this coming June at the Cologne plant.

A launch is also planned for an SUV very similar to the Volkswagen ID.5, an electric SUV that could revive the name Capri. But all of this is subject to that change in planning and to the new developments Ford presents over the coming months, in order to keep models with combustion engines on the European market.