Ford will split electric vehicles, legacy autos into separate units as it works to boost electric business

Ford gives electric vehicle business room to grow

DETROITFord Motor Company announced on Wednesday (March 2) that it is changing the way it does business and electric vehicles will lead the way.

The company is making the decision to split the company under one roof as opposed to spinning off the electric business the way Wall Street wanted.

Ford is looking to give its electric vehicle business all the help and room it needs to grow while it winds down its internal combustion vehicle division over time.

It’s called Ford+. Earlier last year, Ford created the Ford Pro division for commercial vehicles. Now, alongside it is Ford Model E for its electric vehicles and Ford Blue, for its internal combustion engine business they call ICE.

Ford plans to ramp up electric vehicle production to 2 million vehicles a year by 2026. They also want to increase profitability to 10% and cut costs by 3 billion, according to Ford CEO Jim Farley.

“Our corporate structure is holding us back. It does not allow us to focus. We need the ICE business to be cash generating and serving those iconic brands and we need our electric business and digital business to be about innovation,” Farley said.

Innovation will be driven by the high tech team moving into the Michigan Central Station building next year. Model E Digital Systems officer Doug Field, fresh from Apple, had a unique take on what they’ll do and who they’re hiring.

“Being able to start from scratch, go deep on the technology and be really focused on building great talent. We want the best people and I don’t care if they come to work in bunny slippers,” Field said.

Auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid said Ford is inspired by Tesla to make these moves, much like what it did with the Ford Mustang Mach-E.

“And then they pivoted and essentially copied almost the entire Tesla playbook for how they do product development and that’s what they are trying to expand on now and have a more nimble, more agile process,” Abuelsamid said.

Ford also announced that it’s going to overhaul its dealer network, telling dealers they need to learn to specialize. That means many will offer products from differing divisions and not necessarily all of them.

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About the Authors:

Rod Meloni is an Emmy Award-winning Business Editor on Local 4 News and a Certified Financial Planner™ Professional.

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.