The Dearborn-based automaker has already indicated its intention to accelerate its electric shift, notably by separating its electric division (Ford Model e) and its combustion division (Ford Blue). This time, it’s the turn of Ford‘s European wing to unveil its future plans.
As we know, the old continent has stricter standards for emissions, which pushes the brands distributed on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean to increase the pace. Ford of Europe expects that by 2026, it will have sold more than 600,000 electric vehicles, compared to more than two million units sold worldwide.
To get there, Ford of Europe plans to add no less than three passenger vehicle models and four commercial vehicles by 2024. In addition to the four commercial vehicles (Tourneo Courier, Transit Custom, Tourneo Custom and E-Transit), the European division wants to add a mid-size crossover (probably with three rows of seats), another compact sport crossover that could be Ford’s version of the Volkswagen ID.5, the equivalent of the ID.4, but with a streamlined silhouette. As a reminder, Ford and Volkswagen are partners in a few related projects and this new utility model could be the first electric fruit of this collaboration. The SUV based on Volkswagen’s MEB platform will be assembled at the Cologne, Germany plant.
The other model is a fully electric mid-size SUV that will be unveiled later this year. If the manufacturer’s darkened photo is any indication, this one should basically be the Explorer EV that Ford had already confirmed.
Finally, the other pure electric SUV will be based on the architecture of the current Ford Puma, a model that is unfortunately not marketed here.
With all these announcements, it’s hard to know what the strategy will be for North America, the continent that is likely to see vehicles equipped with combustion engines linger a little longer on North American roads.
