If you find the seemingly endless parade of new EV SUVs boring and disappointing, send Ford a little thank you for taking the leap out of jump on the bandwagon. Last week, the company announced it was recalibrating its electrification strategy by cutting its spending on pure electric vehicles by nearly 40 percent and putting that money into hybrids. As a result, it is delaying the release of the next-generation F-150 Lightning pickup truck and instead swapping out a planned three-row electric SUV for a hybrid version.
But that doesn’t mean it’s giving up on electric cars — although the next Lightning isn’t due to launch until 2027, Ford says it will debut alongside a midsize BEV pickup truck. Interestingly, the new midsize pickup will be one of the first to be designed by a skunkworks team that Ford CEO Jim Farley founded in California two years ago and that was tasked with developing cheap electric cars that could undercut Tesla and compete with Chinese automakers.
And meanwhile, a new all-electric delivery van is on track for launch in 2026. It’s not yet known whether it will replace or complement the existing E-Transit. With demand for electric vehicles declining, Ford has basically decided to bet on the two areas where it still sees opportunity – trucks and fleets.
The overall cost savings don’t even matter, as the cancellations and delays are costing FoMoCo an estimated $1.9 billion. And since the plant that was supposed to build the electric SUV now has to be converted to produce something else – in this case, the always profitable internal combustion engine trucks – Ford could have to absorb another $1.5 billion in production-related costs.
In addition to this hybrid SUV with three rows of seats, other electric versions of Ford’s current lineup are also expected. Ford CEO Jim Farley is confident that a later timeline will better position the company in terms of both competitive pricing and profitability. He expects the new electric trucks to be profitable within a year of their debut.
“This is a huge turnaround for us, and we’re not going to make a huge turnaround without doing a lot of groundwork to convince ourselves that this is exactly the right plan,” Farley said. “I’m very confident.”
Ford will announce further updates to its electric vehicle strategy during the first half of next year.
