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Ford is investing $ 1 billion in an electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Cologne, Germany, with the European arm of the car giant committed to going ‘all-in’ on electric vehicles in the coming years.
In the plans announced Wednesday morning, Ford said its entire range of passenger vehicles in Europe could be a free, fully electric or plug-in hybrid by 2030, with a “completely electric” offering by 2030.
With the investment in Cologne, the company will upgrade an existing assembly plant and convert it into a facility aimed at manufacturing electric vehicles.
“Our announcement today to transform our Cologne plant, home to our operations in Germany for 90 years, is one of the most important that Ford has made in more than a generation,” said Stuart Rowley, Ford of Europe President , said in a statement.
“It underscores our commitment to Europe and a modern future with electric vehicles at the heart of our growth strategy,” Rowley added.
The company also wants its commercial vehicle segment in Europe to be zero-emitted, plugged in hybrid or fully electric by 2024.
A ‘transformative’ decade
While governments around the world are announcing plans to move away from diesel and petrol vehicles, Ford, along with several other major carmakers, is trying to increase its electric supply and challenge businesses like Elon Musk’s Tesla.
Earlier this week, Jaguar Land Rover announced that its Jaguar brand will be fully electric from 2025 onwards. The company, which is owned by Tata Motors, also said its Land Rover segment will roll out six “pure electric variants” over the next five years.
Elsewhere, South Korean carmaker Kia will launch its first dedicated electric vehicle this year, while German Volkswagen Group will invest about 35 billion euros (about $ 42.27 billion) in battery-powered electric vehicles, saying that by 2030 they will have about 70 all-electric vehicles. models want to roll out. .
Last month, Daimler’s CEO told CNBC that the car industry was ‘in the middle of a transformation’.
“Apart from the things we know well – to honestly build the world’s most popular cars – there are two technological trends we are doubling down on: electrification and digitization,” Ola Källenius told CNBC’s Annette Weisbach.
The firm, headquartered in Stuttgart, has ‘poured billions into this new technology’, he added, saying they would ‘drive our way to CO2-free driving’. This decade, he claims, would be ‘transformative’.