As the field of electric vehicles continues to be dominated by the likes of Tesla (TSLA) – Get Free Report and Chinese manufacturers like BYD, Ford (F) – Get Free Report is in a precarious place despite its role as a heritage household name auto manufacturer.
However, the blue oval has something up its sleeve to compete.
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Jim Farley, Ford chief executive officer, at the 2023 North American International Detroit Auto Show on Sept. 12, 2023 in Detroit.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
During Ford’s earnings call on February 6, CEO Jim Farley revealed that the company has been working on developing vehicles that would expand its presence in the EV marketplace.
Farley made it known that a previously unknown “skunkworks team” has been working on the development of a brand new platform for electric vehicles for the past two years.
The said “secret team,” Farley noted, is focused on smaller, “low-cost” electric cars that can be made cheaper and more efficiently for a wider base of customers.
A 2024 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT vehicle during the 2023 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS)
“We made a bet in silence two years ago,” Farley said about the “skunkworks team” during the earnings call. “It was a small group, a small team — some of the best EV engineers in the world — and it was separate from the Ford mothership. It was a startup and they’ve developed a flexible platform that will not only deploy to several types of vehicles, there will be a large install base for software and services.”
According to a report by TechCrunch, said “skunkworks” team is led by ex-Tesla engineer and present-day Ford Advanced EV development head Alan Clarke. The team led by the 12-year Tesla veteran also includes engineers from Auto Motive Power, an energy management startup acquired by the Blue Oval in 2023.
With such a stacked deck in his hands, Farley has one specific target for Ford’s electric vehicles — the upper echelon.
Tesla Model 3 facelift is on display during the first China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) in Beijing, China.
China News Service/Getty Images
“All of our EVs teams are ruthlessly focused on cost and efficiency in our EV products, because the ultimate competition is going to be the affordable Tesla and the Chinese OEMs,” Farley said.
This attention towards electric vehicles cannot come at a more precarious time for Ford. The Blue Oval is still under fire by Senate lawmakers for its involvement with CATL on a battery plant that it has already pulled a significant amount of investment from.
What’s more, Ford has reduced production of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup because of “slow demand,” transferring some employees to the factory making gas-guzzling Bronco off-road vehicles.
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Despite the setbacks, Ford remains confident in EVs, though it reported losing $4.7 billion on EVs in 2023, while rival Toyota (TM) – Get Free Report records record profits thanks to the demand for hybrid vehicles.
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