The American automotive giant Ford has joined those car manufacturers that have backed away from their initial promises and ambitions for a complete transition to electric car production – if it was planned in 2021 that all Fords sold in Europe would be electric in 2030, now, facing the market realities, Ford admits that it probably won’t.
Martins Zanders, head of the company’s passenger car structural unit in Europe Financial Times at the organized conference “Future of the Car” made an official statement about such a decision.
“If we see a big demand for, for example, plug-in hybrids, then we will also offer such machines to our customers,” said Zander. He points out that Ford’s long-term goal is to go fully electric in any case, but right now the manufacturer, like other companies, is facing lower-than-expected demand.
Ford currently offers the electric Mustang Mach-E, as well as the Transit van and the relatively new Ford Explorer. Ford is partnering with Volkswagen and has several new models in development built on Volkswagen’s electric platform.
Similar announcements have been made by other car manufacturers in the last few months – the most striking and loud example is Mercedes backing away from their promises and admitting that they will continue to offer cars with internal combustion engines in the next decade as well.
Although current plans foresee that in 2035 only electric cars will be able to be sold in the European Union, however, recently this commitment has noticeably frayed. As the European Parliament elections are approaching, several political forces, including representatives of the influential European People’s Party faction, as well as influential German politicians, have expressed that this ban could be revised. Also in Great Britain, a decision was recently made to ban internal combustion engines in new cars from 2035, although the ban was originally planned for 2030.
Tags: Ford joins pack nonbelievers slows electric car ambitions Europe
