Ford has backed off plans to sell only electric cars in Europe from the end of the decade, the chief operating officer of its electric vehicle division has said.
In an interview with CoachFord Model E boss Marin Gjaja said “uncertainty” around EV demand and legislation has forced him to shelve a 2030 target of phasing out petrol and diesel models.
He said 2030 was “too ambitious”, as the company confirmed. would continue to offer new hybrid cars in Europe beyond that date.
The head of Ford’s electric car division has said the brand’s plans to go all-electric in Europe from 2030 were “too ambitious”, while confirming the company will continue to offer hybrids.
In February 2021, the US auto giant said sales in Europe would be electric or plug-in hybrid by mid-2026, and then EV-only from the end of the decade.
But a recent slump in demand for battery-powered cars has forced it and other major manufacturers to make adjustments to their own timelines for removing internal combustion engine models from showrooms across the continent.
Marin Gjaja, chief operating officer of Ford’s Model E electric car division
Gjaja told Autocar: “I don’t think we can go all in on nothing until our customers decide they are fully interested, and that is progressing at different rates around the world.”
He added that “Customers have voted ‘through recent purchases’ that they are not ready for battery cars and that ambitions to sell only electric vehicles in Europe from 2030 were ‘too ambitious’.
Gjaja’s comments come just days after Ford unveiled its third purpose-built EV model, controversially reintroducing the Capri name for its new sporty electric SUV.
He went on to say that others in the industry, such as Ford, had “found out the hard way” that drivers are not switching to electric vehicles as quickly as manufacturers had hoped.
“We don’t believe that going all-electric by 2030 is a good option for our business and especially for our customers,” he told the automotive publication.
In the UK, sales of electric vehicles have grown by around 9 per cent year-on-year. However, the vast majority of demand is concentrated in the fleet sector, while private purchases are weakening.
Sales of electric vehicles to individuals (rather than through leasing, fleets and business purchases) will fall by 10.8 percent in 2024, with fewer than one in five new electric cars going to private buyers.
Gjaja told Autocar in a recent interview: “I don’t think we can go all in on nothing until our customers decide they are fully committed, and that is progressing at different rates around the world.”
Electric vehicle registrations in Europe fell by 1% in June, with major markets such as Germany and France recording declines of 18.1% and 10.3% respectively.
This waning appetite for electric vehicles means the UK car industry has been forced to revise its sales forecasts for 2024, cutting the market share of electric cars to 19.8 per cent – well below the 22 per cent target of the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate that manufacturers must meet to avoid substantial fines.
In Europe, electric vehicle registrations in June fell by 1 percent, with major markets such as Germany and France recorded declines of 18.1 percent and 10.3 percent respectively.
In the first half of 2024, a total of 712,637 new electric cars were registered on the continent, a modest increase of 1.3% compared to the same period last year.
This means that roughly one in eight new models entering the European road network this year have been purely electric cars.
Carmakers adjust their electric vehicle targets
Ford isn’t the only automaker rethinking its electric vehicle plans.
The head of Fiat confirmed this week that reintroduce a petrol version of its 500 city car due to a lack of demand for electric vehicles, especially among older drivers.
Chief executive Olivier Francois said the new “mild hybrid” Fiat 500 Ibrida will arrive in early 2026 due to “slower than expected adoption of electric vehicles in Europe.”
Fiat Chief Executive Olivier Francois said the carmaker would reintroduce a petrol version of its 500 city car due to a lack of demand for electric vehicles, particularly among older drivers.
German car giant Mercedes-Benz announced this year that it will extend the production run of one of its best-selling combustion cars due to concerns about the adoption of electric vehicles.
The A-Class hatchback, which was due to be retired at the end of this year, will continue to be produced until 2026 as part of Mercedes’ more “flexible” strategy for the transition to electric vehicles.
CEO Ola Källenius has said the company will continue to produce combustion-engine cars based on existing platforms well into the next decade because price parity between electric and gasoline vehicles “is many years away.”
Audi has cut back on electric model launches due to falling demand, while VW has also cut production due to a combination of parts shortages and lower-than-expected sales.
Other manufacturers are reluctant to move ahead with phasing out combustion engines.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda said in January that battery-powered electric vehicles will never dominate the auto market and account for no more than a third of global sales.
Toyoda said switching to electric vehicles is not the answer when 1 billion people around the world live without electricity: “We also supply vehicles to these regions, so a single electric vehicle option cannot provide transportation for everyone,” he said.
“No matter how much progress electric vehicles make, I think they will still only have a 30 percent market share.”
From left to right: Subaru CEO Atsushi Osaki, Toyota CEO Koji Sato and Mazda CEO Masahiro Moro confirm that the three auto companies have joined forces to develop new compact internal combustion engines in a bid to achieve carbon neutrality without relying solely on electric vehicles.
In May, Toyota, Mazda and Subaru pledged to introduce smaller gasoline engines for use with hybrid technology and to adopt green biofuels to reduce vehicle emissions.
Toyota, the world’s largest car seller, described the development as “an engine reborn.”
And Aston Martin chairman Lance Stroll has also said the British sports car firm will continue making gasoline-powered models until regulators force it to stop amid muted demand for electric vehicles.
“We will continue to make them (gasoline cars) as long as we are allowed to do so. There will always be demand, although it will be reduced,” he said in April.
But while many car brands are delaying their plans to switch to electric vehicles, Jaguar is not.
The British carmaker, now owned by India’s Tata, is ceasing production of all but one of its combustion-engine cars as it accelerates toward the company’s ambition to become an all-electric luxury brand from next year.
The European Union has set 2035 as the date when it will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles across the continent.
However, it has allowed exceptions for internal combustion engine cars to remain in showrooms beyond 2035, provided they can run on sustainable e-fuels that are carbon neutral.
In the UK, the Labour government has already promised to reinstate the A ban on sales of new combustion engine cars from 2030, although there was no reference to this in the King’s speech earlier this week.
Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. This helps us fund This Is Money and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationships to affect our editorial independence.
