Ford to Launch 50 New Vehicles by 2025… in China
Practically every automaker seeking to expand its global footprint is courting China right now. Ford Motor Company has already signed an agreement with Anhui Zotye Automobile to set up a $754 million joint venture focused on electric cars in the hopes it can get a head start on the country’s fast-approaching EV mandate.
With so much opportunity for growth, major manufacturers see Asia as a ripening market as North America withers on the vine. With that in mind, Ford has announced plans to launch 50 new vehicles in China by 2025.
“Between now and 2025, we will launch 50 new vehicles in China, and of those 50 new vehicles, 15 of them will be all-new electrified vehicles,” said Peter Fleet, Ford’s president of Asia Pacific, in Shanghai on Tuesday.
According to Reuters, Fleet expressed the need for a strong push into China’s utility segment as well. That means Asia is likely to see Ford fielding an array of small vehicles for both consumer and commercial applications. But most of them will have to come with an electrified variant if Ford plans on adhering to the country’s strengthening electric vehicle mandates.
China’s original plan was to ensure EVs comprise at least a fifth of all domestic auto sales by 2025, but it has softened slightly after global manufacturers said that simply wasn’t possible. Companies producing more than 30,000 cars annually will still have to earn a satisfactory “new-energy vehicle score” though.
The country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has indicated that at least 10 percent of an automaker’s lineup should be made of zero- and low-emission vehicles by 2019. That number rises to 12 percent the following year and continues its upward trajectory from there. Any group that fails to adhere to this guideline will be forced to purchase credits from China or face financial penalties.
While Europe incessantly promotes the abolishment of internal combustion engines, it’s China that’s most strongly influencing the industry. It also has the most aggressive timeline. “We’ve never seen change like we do today,” said Ford’s executive chairman Bill Ford. “Everything is being disrupted.”
“It’s clearly the case that China will lead the world in EV development, and so we at Ford are investing enormous amounts of money both here in China and globally to bring electrification into fruition.”
[Image: Ford Motor Company]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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lol, these comments are pretty ridiculous. It's not China that needs Ford to build EVs, it's Ford that needs the Chinese market to survive. China will build EVs with or without Ford, so all the ridiculous posts here about how we'd be "teaching" the Chinese how to build these cars is beyond ridiculous. The reality is that if Ford doesn't try to sell EVs in China then it'll just be Chinese companies as well as European companies like VW that are happy to work with the Chinese selling cars there. And then those companies will have the scale to crush Ford in all the other markets around the world. If you believe that car companies can survive by just staying in the US market you are horribly ignorant of how the world is and will be. China was always going to become a dominant economic force sooner or later, like it once was. Pretending like there was some way to forever keep another country poor just so you could exploit their cheap labor is ridiculous. But the reality is that trade is a two way street anyways, it's not all doom and gloom like y'all are making it seem. They'll want more products than their own manufacturers will be able to produce, especially once more environmental regulations make it impossible for them to continue producing at their current prices and rates. China will become a huge importer of products, so to keep yourself out of this market is economic suicide.
@tekdemon - you're spot on. The comments critical of Ford come from people with no accountability for having to lay off thousands of GM and Ford employees if Ford don't have a place in the China market place. As for IP concerns, that's what R&D is for, to keep ahead of the competition. And where do you get money for R&D, from revenue from markets like China and India.