GM has said it will spend $ 27 billion over the next five years on the development of electric autonomous cars, which certainly sounded a lot until today when Ford said it would invest $ 29 billion. That’s $ 2 billion more! Ford also had its first full year loss in more a decade.
The $ 29 billion will be invested in the development of autonomous and electric cars through 2025, Ford said, although numbers from both Ford and GM are little more than marketing at this point.
Instead, what matters is the actual products. Tesla currently sells four fully electric cars that many people really like; Ford currently sells one all-electric vehicle people don’t seem to hate; and GM currently sells one electric car in the US, that’s the definition of “meh,” whatever you can currently get a pretty good deal.
In 2025, I’m not sure how that grave could read, although I think it’s safe to assume GM and Ford will each be have more than one EV through thereafter.
From Automotive News:
CFO John Lawler said a “majority” of the $ 22 billion spent on electrified vehicles would be spent on battery-electric models, although he declined to say how much Ford planned to add to its lineup. He also declined to live up to GM’s stated ambition to go all-electric by 2035, noting that Ford was focused on introducing future models like the F-150 EV and E-Transit.
Lawler said the $ 7 billion autonomous vehicle pledge includes spending on Ford’s Argo AI, as well as the planned 2022 launch of autonomous commercial services.
G / O Media can receive a commission
Ford attributed his loss for the year $ 1.3 billion – in various one-time charges, including $ 2.5 billion for leaving Brazil and more than $ 600 million due to Takata airbag recalls. S.o you would expect Ford to be back in the black next year, spending billions and billions on electric vehicles or not. What happens next is a guess.
In any case, I am rightly enthusiastic about the Ford E-Transit, maybe a little too excited, given the potential to replace trucks for the last mile in a world once so dependent on home delivery. And at least I’m F-150-EV curious, but for other reasons I don’t think that will be so successful, because truck owners are a stubborn and loyal kind.
Everyone seems to like the Mach-E too, which is a good start for Ford, but this really won’t make much sense until the Blue Oval chases the core of its lineup: Explorers and escapes and edges. And the hybrids don’t count for the purposes of this conversation. That’s because what was so striking about GM’s announcement was not the price tag but the aim to go 100 percent fully electric by 2035. This thing that General Motors has been doing for over a century – building combustion engine cars and selling them – now plans to shut down altogether. It was as if Budweiser had announced it was going from beer to cannabis.
Ford’s ambitions are a little short right now, but if they ever say anything similar, you know they’re really serious.