Ford President Kumar Galhotra told Gary Gastelu of Fox News Autos that the automaker is in a good position to take advantage of Biden’s plan to electrify the fleet of federal vehicles.
Ford surpassed Wall Street estimates with fourth quarter adjusted earnings of 34 cents per share by $ 33.2 billion in revenue against an expected loss of 7 cents at $ 32.89 billion, but reported a net loss of US $ 1.3 billion for the entire year, the first since 2008.
The automaker also announced nearly double its investments in electric vehicles to $ 22 billion by 2025, with an additional $ 7 billion set aside for the development of autonomous automobiles.
“We are accelerating all of our plans – breaking restrictions, increasing battery capacity, improving costs and putting more electric vehicles in our product cycle plan,” said CEO Jim Farley in a press release on the results. “People are responding to what Ford is doing today, not someday.”
During Ford’s earnings conference call, Farley said the figure does not include the potential production of internal batteries, which would require additional investment.
Ford’s combined $ 29 billion plan for EVs and AVs compares with General Motors’ latest commitment to invest $ 27 billion in technology by 2025.
GENERAL ENGINES WILL BE FULLY ELECTRIC BY 2035
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Ford projected a profit of $ 8- $ 9 billion for 2021, which includes a $ 900 million gain from its stake in electric vehicle startup Rivian, in which it made $ 500 million in 2019. Rivan, who is scheduled to start operations deliveries to customers later this year were valued at $ 27.6 billion after a recent round of financing in January.
Ford warned that the current shortage of semiconductor chips that affected production could adversely affect its performance in 2021.
Farley used the chip problem as an example of why he will need to be aggressive, but smart, by developing the battery supply chain for his electric vehicles, and that more details about the electric car plan would be revealed in the spring.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.