- Ford is reconsidering its plan to go EV-only in Europe by 2030.
- Automaker now says it will continue with hybrids if buyers want them.
- Change of stance comes in the wake of declining EV demand in Europe.
Ford’s bold plan to go EV-only in Europe by 2030 could be ripped up in the face of sluggish demand for electric cars, according to one of the firm’s most senior execs.
Having laid out one of the most ambitious EV-switchover timeframes of any mass-market automaker, which would have resulted in it beating the European Union’s 2035 zero emissions mandate by five years, Ford now says it could continue to sell combustion-engined cars in Europe beyond the end of the decade if customers still want the tech.
Related: Auto Industry Fears The Worst As Demand For EVs Fails To Meet Expectations
“If we see strong demand, for instance for plug-in hybrid vehicles, we will offer them,” Martin Sander, head of Ford’s passenger cars business in Europe, told the Financial Times Future of the Car summit, Auto News reports. Sander admitted that current demand for EVs didn’t match up with Ford’s expectations and that the company has failed to hit its own targets.
That’s not great news for Ford’s top brass, who have spent $2 billion converting its factory in Cologne, Germany, into an EV hub. The former Fiesta plant will begin building Ford’s new VW ID.4-based Ford Explorer SUV this June, and Ford is expected to unveil a second EV built on the same VW MEB electric platform the same month. An electric version of the smaller Puma crossover (pictured below) goes into production later this year in Romania.
Despite the slowdown in EV sales, Ford says it has no plans to extend the life of the Focus hatch, Autocar reported Sanders saying.
“In the long run, we are still deeply convinced that EVs will be the future and we will see a significant increase in volume,” he said.
Sanders also vowed that Ford wouldn’t dump discounted EVs on the UK market simply to meet controversial rules demanding that electric cars make up 22 percent of an automaker’s sales, with that number growing each year. Instead, it will simply choke the supply of ICE cars, sending them to other countries instead, Auto News says.
