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Ford is investing $ 1 billion in an electric vehicle production facility in Cologne, Germany, with the European arm of the automotive giant pledging to go “all-in” on electric vehicles in the coming years.
In plans announced on Wednesday morning, Ford said the entire range of passenger vehicles in Europe would be “capable of zero emissions, fully electric or plug-in hybrids” in mid-2026, with a “fully electric” offering Until 2030.
The investment in Cologne will cause the company to upgrade an existing assembly plant, converting it into a unit for the production of electric vehicles.
“Our announcement today to transform our facility in Cologne, the home of our German operations for 90 years, is one of the most significant that Ford has made in more than a generation,” said Stuart Rowley, president of Ford Europe, in a statement .
“This emphasizes our commitment to Europe and a modern future with electric vehicles at the heart of our growth strategy,” added Rowley.
The company also wants its commercial vehicle segment in Europe to be able to generate zero emissions, a plug-in hybrid or fully electric by 2024.
A ‘transformative’ decade
With governments around the world announcing plans to abandon diesel and gasoline vehicles, Ford, along with several other major automakers, is trying to increase its electric supply and challenge companies like Elon Musk’s Tesla.
Earlier this week, Jaguar Land Rover announced that its Jaguar brand would become fully electric from the year 2025. The company, which is owned by Tata Motors, also said that its Land Rover segment will launch six “purely electric variants” in the next five years.
Elsewhere, South Korean automaker Kia will launch its first dedicated electric vehicle this year, while Germany’s Volkswagen Group is investing approximately 35 billion euros (about $ 42.27 billion) in battery-powered electric vehicles and says it wants to launch around 70 fully electric models by 2030.
Last month, Daimler’s CEO told CNBC that the automotive industry was “in the middle of a transformation”.
“In addition to the things we know well – to build, frankly, the most desirable cars in the world – there are two technological trends that we are bending: electrification and digitization,” Ola Källenius told Annette Weisbach of CNBC.
The Stuttgart-based company was “pouring billions into these new technologies,” he added, saying they “would lead our way in a CO2-free direction”. This decade, he said, would be “transformative”.