Given the praise Ford’s hybrids have received in the States, it’s interesting the company has only just announced they’d be available in Europe.
But on the heels of the 2015 Ford Mondeo and word a hybrid variant would join the lineup for the first time, a Ford Europe exec says the lineup could expand to plug-in hybrids.
According to Ford product planner Uli Koesters, the demand for plug-ins in Europe “is not quite as ready as some people would like to think, but it is clearly a technology that can do a lot better at significantly reducing fuel consumption,” he told Automotive News Europe.
And thanks to the One Ford philosophy, the company can reportedly “quickly respond” if demand should rise.
Ford markets the Fusion Energi and C-Max Energi plug-ins in the U.S. Both the C-Max and Mondeo (Fusion in North America) are built in Valencia, Spain – although the hybrids are currently sourced from North America.
While rival Volkswagen has already announced plug-ins for the Golf and an upcoming one for the Passat, Ford isn’t in the game at all in Europe.
In fact, the top three plug-ins sold in Europe are the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV, Toyota Prius Plug-In and the Volvo V60 PHEV – all selling well below 20,000 units combined in the first half of 2014, according to Automotive News Europe. But with the addition of more mainstream models, that number could increase significantly.
By Zac Estrada