NEW YORK: Ford announced Thursday a dramatic acceleration of its investment push into electric autos and signaled deepening collaborations with technology giants on the increased digitization of driving. The US auto giant, released fourth-quarter and annual results, and said it plans $22 billion in electric car investment through 2025, nearly twice the earlier plan.
The announcement is the latest big bet on electric autos by a legacy automaker in the wake of upstart Tesla's growth and in anticipation of Biden administration initiatives to encourage emission-free vehicles.
Last week, Ford's rival General Motors set a target of having most of its fleet emissions-free by 2035.
"It's stunning how fast the industry is changing," said Chief Executive Jim Farley who pointed to surging electric auto sales in Europe.
Farley reported strong early interest in Ford's Mustang Mach-E, its electric sport utility vehicle which hit showrooms in December. The automaker plans a range of all-electric vehicles, including for its best-selling F-150 pickup truck.
"The costs are coming down quickly, but for me and the team, the move to electric is not about batteries and motors," Farley said on a conference call with analysts. "It's about a digital vehicle and a new customers experience."
The revamped plan came as Ford reported a fourth-quarter loss of $2.8 billion, compared with a loss of $1.7 billion in the year-ago period.
Revenues fell 9.3 percent to $36 billion.
Ford projected 2021 operating profits of $8 to $9 billion, much above $2.8 billion in 2020, when the company suffered a big drop in auto sales amid the disruption from Covid-19.
Ford on Monday unveiled an alliance with Google to employ its cloud computing platform. Farley said the Google venture is not "exclusive" and that Ford's vehicles would also employ Amazon's voice program and other programs by Apple and Microsoft.
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