Gas-powered cars will be under Ford Blue in split
With one eye on the present and one on the future, Ford is splitting its car manufacturing into separate electric and internal combustion engine divisions. At the announcement Wednesday, Ford’s Doug Field said, “This will be a really big change in modernization of the way we’re going to do business.” The internal combustion engine division will be known as Ford Blue, while the electric side will be called Ford Model e. Updating its previous plans, Ford expects Model e cars will make up 50% of its sales by 2030.
While the electric division focuses on innovation and experimentation like a startup, the old gas-powered models in Ford Blue are “going to be the profit engine of Ford,” said Stuart Rowley, chief transformation and quality officer, “delivering the lifeblood to fund that future.”
CEO Jim Farley emphasized that Ford will still be investing in internal combustion vehicles such as the F-150 and Mustang that have driven the company’s success in the past. It will also spend $5 billion on EVs this year, doubling 2021 levels, and will get to $50 billion by 2026.
“We’re announcing one of the biggest changes in our history today,” Farley said. “We are going all-in, creating separate but complementary businesses that give us startup speed and unbridled innovation in Ford Model e together with Ford Blue’s industrial know-how, volume and iconic brands like Bronco, that startups can only dream about.”
Farley will be the president of Model e, while former Tesla and Apple executive Field will be chief EV and digital systems officer. Kumar Galhotra will lead Ford Blue.
There had been speculation that Ford would spin off the EV and internal combustion engine operations into separate businesses, but keeping them under the same corporate umbrella lets them share capital and technology, Farley said, with the legacy division funding innovation that will drive the future.
Leave a Reply