Ford Motor was the youngest automaker to accelerate the transition to electric cars, and said on Wednesday that its European division will soon begin phasing out production gasoline-powered vehicles. The company will only offer electric and plug-in hybrid models until 2026.
The plan is part of an offer to achieve constant profits in Europe, where Ford has had problems for several years, and to meet increasingly stringent emissions standards in the European Union.
“We have successfully restructured Ford of Europe and returned to profitability in the fourth quarter of 2020,” said Stuart Rowley, President of Ford of Europe, in a statement. “Now we are storming into a fully electric future.”
Ford and other automakers are moving faster with electric vehicles in Europe than in the US. Last year, the European Union began to impose fines on automakers for not complying with carbon dioxide emissions limits, forcing them to sell more electric cars.
Ford said it plans to spend $ 1 billion on the overhaul of its main European facility in Cologne to manufacture electric vehicles. The first new model is slated to go into production in 2023, Ford said.
All Ford of Europe vans and commercial vehicles will be electric or plug-in hybrids by 2024, and two years later the entire range of vehicles will be electric or plug-in hybrids.
Last month General Motors announced that it would only produce electric vehicles until 2035, but GM nearly pulled out of Europe after selling its Opel division to Frances Peugeot SA in 2017. Peugeot recently teamed up with Fiat Chrysler and is now known as Stellantis.
