LONDON -- Ford Motor is rethinking its plan to sell only full-electric cars in Europe by 2030 as EV sales fail to take off in the region.
Ford in 2021 announced its goal of selling only battery-electric passenger cars in Europe by the end of the decade. The target was more ambitious than the European Union's plan to allow only zero-emissions cars to be sold after 2035 as part of its CO2 reduction strategy.
Ford now says it could continue to sell combustion engine cars after 2030 if buyers want them. "If we see strong demand, for instance for plug-in hybrid vehicles, we will offer them," said Martin Sander, head of Ford's passenger cars business in Europe.
Demand for electric cars was "softer" than Ford had originally planned, he said, and the company is not hitting its ambitious targets.
There is a clear trajectory to electrification, Sander said. "We just have to manage our way towards 100 percent electric drivetrains," he told the Financial Times Future of the Car summit on Tuesday.
Ford has completed a $2 billion investment to convert its factory in Cologne, Germany, to build full-electric vehicles based on Volkswagen Group's MEB platform. It will start series production of the Explorer all-electric compact SUV in Cologne in June and will unveil a second vehicle built on the MEB platform, also in June.