Ford To Sell Only Electric Cars In Europe And U.K. By 2030

Ford has announced that it will sell only full-electric passenger cars in Europe by 2030 as part of a new growth strategy in the region.

Ford’s announcement comes after the UK, the automaker's biggest European market, said last year it would ban the sales of internal combustion engine passenger cars in 2030, although the British government has subsequently said it will allow sales of full-hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles to continue for a further five years.

The U.S. motor giant announced that it will spend $1 billion to modernize its Cologne, Germany, manufacturing center, converting it into a European electric vehicle factory. The factory will build an undisclosed electric passenger vehicle in 2023, and it may build a second one in the future, the company said on Wednesday.

The move will be supported by the company's strategic alliance with Volkswagen Group to use VW's MEB electric-car platform, Ford said in its statement.

Ford pledged to offer fully electric or plug-in gas-electric versions of all passenger vehicles in Europe by 2024, with all European vehicles going to fully electric by 2030. The company also predicted that two-thirds of its European commercial vehicle sales will be electric or plug-in hybrids by 2030.

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The automaker's first European-built, mass-market, fully electric car will roll off the lines in Cologne starting in 2023, Ford said. The factory, which currently builds the Fiesta small hatchback, will have the potential to build a second full-electric vehicle. Ford will continue Fiesta production in parallel with the new EV before eventually going all-electric.

"We successfully restructured Ford of Europe and returned to profitability in the fourth quarter of 2020. Now we are charging into an all-electric future in Europe," Ford of Europe President Stuart Rowley said in the statement.

Last week, Ford announced plans to invest $22 billion in EVs and a further $7 billion in autonomous vehicles through to 2025, nearly doubling its previous commitment. The money will fund the development of EVs in Ford's key product lines, the firm said, including pickup trucks, commercial vans, and SUVs.

As an interim step to becoming all-electric, all Ford passenger vehicles sold in Europe will have battery or plug-in hybrid drivetrains by mid-2026.