Ford abandons its plans for a battery electric large SUV
- In the current context which seems to shifted out from the acquisition of heavy and expensive battery electric vehicles, the second American carmaker, Ford, has decided to abandon its already well-advanced projects for large electric SUVs which had been planned to be marketed in the short term in North America.
- Today, Ford markets in North America a mid-size SUV (Mustang Mach E) and a large pickup (F-Series Lightning) and the investment that would have been required to electrify all of its large SUVs would have been too massive regarding their sales potential. Ford has in fact sold nearly 800,000 SUVs in the United States in 2023 (including 40,000 Mustang Mach E), as in 2021 and 2022, to which must be added nearly 100,000 SUVs sold annually in Canada.
- However, Ford sold only 107,000 battery electric vehicles worldwide in 2023 (including 69,000 Mustang Mach E and 24,000 F Series Lightning pick-ups) out of 4.4 million vehicles sold, or 2.5% of its global sales. The carmaker does not want to completely abandon the electric market but is repositioning itself in a category of cheaper vehicles with a long range, which could pose some problems because Ford has removed all of its sedans from the American market.
- One idea (from Inovev) to boost again the sales would be the sale battery electric vehicles made in Europe, such as the Explorer and the Capri, which could be exported to the United States. Ford indicates that the large SUVs which were programmed in a battery electric version will finally be available in a hybrid version, an engine in which Ford believes more.