► Ford’s new Explorer EV is just the start
► Designer’s mission: be less boring
► Puma EV confirmed, plus Focus replacement to come
Five years ago, Ford asked its customers what they thought of the company’s products. ‘We were good value, reliable… boring,’ recalls Amko Leenart, Ford of Europe’s design director. ‘This sea of grey was not giving the excitement people expect from the company. So we did some soul searching.’
We’re now seeing the fruits of that rude awakening, with a new breed of electric Ford that taps into the Blue Oval’s 120-year heritage to bring some flair to modern, mainstream EVs. Following the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning, there’s now an electric Explorer for Europe, and more to come soon.
With the Focus set to go out of production next year, the remaining car line-up will be increasingly electric and electrified, and electric-only in Europe from 2035.
Heritage-inspired cars embody ‘American can-do’, and proudly embrace the bloodline, says Leenart.
Marin Gjaja, chief operating officer of Ford’s Model E division, which focuses on developing electric vehicles, says: ‘In the last 12-18 months the changes have been seismic. We believe there will be casualties. Ford is not going to be one of those.’
Ford has put its money where its mouth is, converting the 90-year-old factory in Cologne into an electric-only plant for the Explorer and other new models, at a cost of $2bn.
The industry has, he says, now moved beyond early adopters and must instead sell EVs to the more reluctant ‘early majority’, who would need convincing that electric cars fitted into their lifestyles as well as helping the environment.
‘What’s kept us going? It’s about trust with our customers. They count on us for reliable transportation. We create wonderful products that add value to their lives.’
The Explorer is an example, he says, of ‘electrifying our icons with soul and swagger.’
Not that every new Ford would involve a rebooted badge. But the Explorer is definitely not the last.
‘We don’t want to create functional, nondescript vehicles,’ says Gjaja. ‘Instead, opinionated vehicles that are fun and people really want.’
Ford’s electric car range: what happens next?
The brand’s EVs started with the Mustang Mach-E – a solo project. But Ford is in the middle of preparing a set of electric crossovers developed with VW. The first is the new Explorer, and we’re expecting something similarly sized given recent spy shots of a ‘Capri’. On top of that Ford has already confirmed a Puma EV, which is expected to launch towards the end of 2024, and a replacement for the Focus in 2025.
The Ford-VW partnership is key to the company’s electric plans. The European chief pledged that the Cologne factory – the heart of Ford’s EV plans – will account for 1.2 million units over their lifecycle.
How Ford is electrifying its whole car range by 2030
Ford had already committed to a fully electric future for its European operation, with the promise to move to an all-EV line-up in Europe by 2030. It’s a far-reaching move to electrifiction that will cost the company $22bn by 2025 – double its original EV spending plans. That’s similar to Stellantis’s €30bn ($33bn) investment to 2025; Volkswagen Group has earmarked €73bn for ‘future technologies’ out to 2025, though over a wider portfolio than Ford’s.
Ford’s European chief Rowley says its massive investment and shift of priorities is ‘an attempt to turn around manufacturing, modernise the model range and a way to disrupt ourselves.’ It needs to – as Ford of Europe finds itself behind Volkswagen Group, Stellantis and pretty much every other major player in the race to electrify its passenger car range.
Now the Blue Oval is taking action. To strengthen its European operations, the company is ploughing $1bn into its Cologne facility to create a new electric vehicle manufacturing hub – with the first EVs rolling off the line by the end of 2023. The fundamental shift to EV manufacturer has been facilitated by a ground-up restructuring of its European operations, and a return to profitability in the fourth quarter of 2020, led principally by its commercial vehicle operations (the Ford Transit has recently been the bestselling vehicle in the UK, don’t forget).