American Ford Motor Co. plans to invest $ 4.5 billion to development of electric vehicles, despite the weak demand for such cars and low gasoline prices. Until 2020, the company plans to develop 13 new models of electric and hybrid cars. This was stated Ford’s CEO, Mark Fields, quoted by the agency Bloomberg. Already in 2016, the manufacturer will launch an electric version of Ford Focus with fast charging. Mark Fields expects that in four years, share of these vehicles in the automaker’s production line will increase from the current 13% to 40%. In the current year, Ford has expanded the program Electrified Powertrain Engineering, increasing number of involved engineers to 120 people.
According to Autodata Corp., sales of hybrid cars Ford C-Max, Fusion and Lincoln MKZ fell by a quarter - to 59.3 thousand units in January-November. A similar decline in sales of electric cars and hybrid cars took the whole car market. "Of course, the current level of gas prices is not conducive for selling electric vehicles," - admitted Ford’s Development Director Raj Nair. According to him, the company will try to inform the customers about benefits of not only electric cars, but also plug-in and simply hybrid vehicles. The segment of plug-in hybrid vehicles will grow most rapidly, notes the manager.
Ford is not the only concern that, despite the crisis in the car market, continues to invest in electric cars. At the beginning of the year at the annual North American International Auto Show in Detroit, GM also introduced the concept of its new electric vehicle Chevrolet Bolt, covering 320 km on charge. GM expect the car to compete with electric vehicles from the American company Tesla. Bolt will go on sale in 2017 and will cost about $ 30 thousand. South Korean Hyundai and the German Mercedes-Benz presented their budget e-car versions as well.
source: bloomberg.com
According to Autodata Corp., sales of hybrid cars Ford C-Max, Fusion and Lincoln MKZ fell by a quarter - to 59.3 thousand units in January-November. A similar decline in sales of electric cars and hybrid cars took the whole car market. "Of course, the current level of gas prices is not conducive for selling electric vehicles," - admitted Ford’s Development Director Raj Nair. According to him, the company will try to inform the customers about benefits of not only electric cars, but also plug-in and simply hybrid vehicles. The segment of plug-in hybrid vehicles will grow most rapidly, notes the manager.
Ford is not the only concern that, despite the crisis in the car market, continues to invest in electric cars. At the beginning of the year at the annual North American International Auto Show in Detroit, GM also introduced the concept of its new electric vehicle Chevrolet Bolt, covering 320 km on charge. GM expect the car to compete with electric vehicles from the American company Tesla. Bolt will go on sale in 2017 and will cost about $ 30 thousand. South Korean Hyundai and the German Mercedes-Benz presented their budget e-car versions as well.
source: bloomberg.com
