GM said it will spend $ 27 billion over the next five years on electric autonomous car development, which certainly sounded great to this day when Ford said it would invest $ 29 billion. That’s $ 2 billion more! Ford also had its first year loss in more a decade.
The $ 29 billion will be invested in autonomous and electric car development by 2025, Ford said, although the numbers of both Ford and GM at this point are not much more than marketing.
What matters most are the actual products. Tesla currently sells four all-electric cars that many people like very much; Ford currently sells one fully electric car people do not seem to hate; and GM are currently selling one electric car in the US which is the definition of ‘meh’, which you can currently get a reasonable price.
In 2025 I do not know how the grave can read, although I think it is safe to assume that GM and Ford will each be has more than a single EV door dan.
Of Motor News:
CFO John Lawler said a “majority” of the $ 22 billion dedicated to electrified vehicles would be spent on battery-powered electric models, though he would not say how much Ford plans to contribute to his series. He also did not want to align with GM’s stated ambition to be fully electric by 2035, noting that Ford was set to introduce new models such as the F-150 EV and E-Transit.
Lawler said the $ 7 billion commitment for autonomous vehicles will include spending on Ford-Argo AI, as well as the planned launch of autonomous commercial services in 2022.
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Ford attributed his loss for the year – $ 1.3 billion – to various one-time levies, including $ 2.5 billion to leave Brazil and more than $ 600 million due to the Takata airbag. Sguy would expect Ford to be black again next year, billions and billions spent on EVs or not. What happens next is anyone’s guess.
I’m legally excited about the Ford E-Transit anyway, maybe a little too excited, given its potential to replace last-mile delivery trucks in a world so dependent on home delivery. And I’m at least F-150-EV curious, but for other reasons I do not think it will be so successful, because truck owners are a stubborn and loyal species.
Everyone seems to like the Mach-E too, which is a good start for Ford, but it really won’t be that significant until the Blue Oval follows the core of its range: Explorers and escapes and edges. And the hybrids do not count for the purposes of this conversation. This is because the GM announcement was so striking, not the price but the striving to be 100 percent fully electric by 2035. This thing that General Motors has been doing for over a century – building and selling internal combustion engine cars – is now going to stop doing completely. It was as if Budweiser had announced that it was turning from beer to marijuana.
Ford’s ambitions are currently somewhat short on that, but if they ever say something similar, you’ll know it’s really serious.