Yes, the carmaker that put Americans on the road with the first Model-T is getting out of the traditional car manufacturing business. By 2020, nearly 90 percent of the vehicles the Dearborn, Michigan automaker will produce will be trucks, SUVs and commercial vehicles.
Ford says it will transition to producing just two cars – its iconic Ford Mustang and the new Ford Active, a “crossover” vehicle to be released next year. Ford currently sells the Fiesta, Focus, Fusion, C-Max, Mustang, and Taurus sedans and coupes in North America, according to Tech Crunch.
It is also believed the Lincoln will also disappear, although this was not explicitly stated in the company’s financial release. Lincoln currently sells the mid-size MKZ and full-size Continental, and they share the same sedan platforms as their Ford counterparts. If Ford phases out this platform, then Lincoln will undoubtedly suffer, too.
Move comes as no surprise
Michelle Krebs, executive analyst at AutoTrader.com, said Ford’s move is no shock, reports the Detroit Free Press. “Ford’s announcement to pretty much get out of the car business … comes as no surprise. Ford’s car sales have been dismal for the past couple of years, and there’s no end in sight to the decline of traditional cars,” Krebs said.
Dave Sullivan, manager of product analysis for AutoPacific, Inc. says Ford has made a “bold move,” but he really wasn’t surprised. “This might be the boldest move Ford has made in many years as they pin their hopes on future products that no one has seen,” he said.
“Obviously, this has done well for brands such as Subaru. The competition isn’t standing still and we’ll see more jacked up cars, wagons, and crossovers on the market every few months for the next few years,” Sullivan added.
Ford also reaffirmed its committment to bring hybrid-electric powertrains to the F-150, Mustang, Explorer, Escape and the upcoming Bronco. Ford plans to shift $7.0 billion in investment capital from its car business over to SUVs, estimating that SUVs could make up as much as half of the industry’s U.S. market by 2020.
By 2020, Ford also aims to have high-performance SUVs in market, including five with hybrid powertrains and one fully battery-electric model. With this big push to hybrid SUVs, Ford fully expects to go from second to first-place in the U.S. hybrid vehicles market by sales, surpassing the current leader Toyota by 2021.
It is hard to believe that Ford’s little Mustang is now 54 years old this month. And now that the little pony has grown up, a new generation of drivers will have the thrill of sitting behind the wheel of this writer’s favorite Ford vehicle.
