Ford reconsiders plan to be all-EV by 2030

Ford may step back from its plan to be an all-electric brand in Europe by 2030, according to its boss.

Martin Sander, general manager of Ford Model e Europe, said that the brand might continue to sell petrol/electric hybrids beyond the end of the decade if there was market demand.

Speaking at the Financial Times Future of the Car summit, Sander also said that Ford could limit ICE sales in the UK to meet ZEV mandate limits rather than sell EVs at a loss.

Ford announced in 2021 that its entire European range would be purely electric by 2030 – five years ahead of a ban on ICE vehicles across the continent. As part of that strategy, it revealed plans for nine new EV models by the end of 2024 and a massive overhaul of its European factories.

However, Sander told the summit: “Demand [for EVs] is behind our expectations now and we are not hitting our ambitious targets.”

He continued: “It’s irrelevant if [the all-EV date] is going to be in 2030 or 2035. The trajectory is clear. We are committed to zero emissions… We just need to be reasonable about it and together find a way to manage to get to net zero in a profitable way.

“If we see strong demand, for instance for plug-in hybrid vehicles, we will offer them.”

Ford’s transition to EV is already well underway, with older ICE models including the Mondeo, Focus, Fiesta and Galaxy all discontinued. However, it still sells mild, full and plug-in hybrid versions of its key models.

The Ford Mustang Mach-e is already on sale and will be joined later this year by the Explorer SUV and the Puma Gen-E – an all-electric version of its best-selling compact crossover. It is also well on its way to electrifying its commercial range, with battery-powered versions of the Transit and its smaller Custom and Courier models.

The marque has also spent £2 billion reconfiguring its Cologne factory to build electric models based on the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform, and now tests and builds EV powertrains at its Halewood site on Merseyside.

On the targets set by the ZEV mandate, which will lead to a £15,000 per vehicle fine for non-compliance, Sanders said: “We are not going to pay penalties. We are not going to sell electric vehicles at huge losses just to buy compliance.

“The only alternative is to take our shipments of ICE vehicles to the UK and sell them somewhere else.”