Ford is committed to shifting its entire commercial vehicle lineup to run partially or fully on electricity by 2024. Furthermore, they expect two thirds of their commercial vehicle sales to be all electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030.
This will also include an entirely new model that will be built at its Craiova facility in Romania. The light commercial vehicle (LCV) will enter production 2023 with petrol and diesel engines, following a $300 million investment into the factory, and will be joined by an electric version from 2024.
Read More: Ford To Become An All-Electric Brand In Europe By 2030
“Ford’s Craiova operations have a strong record of delivering world-class competitiveness and flexibility”, said the brand’s Europe president Stuart Rowley. “Our plan to build this new light commercial vehicle in Romania reflects our continuing positive partnership with local suppliers and the community, and the success of the entire Ford Craiova team.”
For now, the Dearborn automaker has remained tight-lipped about the upcoming LCV, announcing only that it will be equipped with “some of the most advanced conventional petrol and diesel engines”, featuring oil burners from their Dagenham Engine Plant and transmissions sourced from Ford Halewood Transmissions.
Subsequent to the cash injection, the Blue Oval’s plant in Romania, which is home to around 6,000 employees and received investments of almost $2 billion since they bought it in 2008, will become their third facility in Europe to build a battery electric vehicle. Ford’s factories that were converted to produce EVs are the Cologne plant in Germany and the Kocaeli one in Turkey.
