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If you look at our line-up globally, at this point we don’t really have much in the affordable segment
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Anew range of smaller and more affordable electric Fords will be spawned from an upcoming ‘skunkworks’ architecture on which the firm aims to produce the world’s most efficient EVs.
This new platform, the development of which is being led by a former Tesla engineer, could underpin spiritual successors to the Fiesta and Focus and a replacement for the Puma, as well as opening up the potential for other small cars from Ford.
The architecture programme is still in the engineering stages, yet it is the first concrete sign that Ford sees a way back to offering a whole suite of more affordable models underneath the new Explorer, Capri and Mustang Mach-E SUVs in addition to the Puma. “We are spending a decent amount of time at the corporate level talking about affordability,” Marin Gja ja, chief operating officer of Ford’s Model E division, told Autocar recently. “We know we need to do it and it’s a muscle we need to build up over time.
“If you look at our line-up globally, at this point we don’t really have much in the affordable segment. The key for us is to be affordable, differentiated and profitable. For too long we stayed in the affordable segment, either at break-even or losing money.
“The question is: how do you compete in that segment, especially if you have got a very low-cost manufacturing location like China pumping out affordable vehicles?
“That’s the dilemma. There’s no question that if we’re going to be a true mass brand, we want people to graduate to a vehicle like Explorer, but where do you start them? That’s what we’re doing in the US with an affordable platform, and there’s no reason why that platform wouldn’t be able to create products for Europe as well.”
The architecture would be used for an obvious replacement for the next Puma. That would inevitably be an electric model and serve as a replacement for the current Puma’s electric variant, which will join the range later this year. The first car based on the new platform – which will be launched first in the US – will arrive in “late 2026 or early 2027”, said Gja ja.
The prospect of other models is theoretical at the moment, but Gja ja’s comments around affordability bring hope as well as expectation that the Puma will not be the sole Ford below the Explorer. Given the Explorer is 4.5 metres long and starts at £40,000, there is plenty of room below it for the Puma to be joined by other models.
“Our sense is the uptake on electric vehicles will be more smaller vehicles over time,” he predicted. “That’s where you will see the most acceleration because that’s the group that’s going to be most sensitive to fuel costs – because the more affordable the vehicle, typically, the more the driver is focused on cost. And they don’t have as much emotion associated with the size of the vehicle or how luxurious it is.”
However, like all new Fords of the future,
whatever models come from the new architecture will not be conventionally shaped and sized and will be “differentiated” in their segments, according to Gja ja.
He explained the rationale behind the skunkworks programme: “It’s headed up by Alan Clarke. Alan is the EV architect who designed EVs that actually make money. He was at Tesla for many years, and his role was in the first two years of a development programme to shepherd it until it went to scale and purchasing. He led the team that designed, engineered, sourced and worked out how to build it.
“He came to Ford a couple of years ago and is trying to build the most efficient platform of any EV on the planet. That’s the goal.”
WHY WE NEED A NEW FIESTA STEVE CROPLEY
News that Ford has a new plan to launch a range of small EVs (and especially a version that could happily carry the Fiesta name) holds the promise of a return to a happy status quo in the UK car market that perished abruptly when the brand decided to kill off its combustion-powered Focus and Fiesta a year ago – prematurely, many believe.
Those Fords jousted with one another for decades to be Britain’s top-selling car, and it’s arguable that the market needs them badly. From 1976, the Fiesta in particular stepped into the small hatchback market with a ‘little big car’ offer that beat most of the competition for simplicity, affordable space and refinement – and it kept on doing it.
The replacement family is an inconvenient three years away, and it will have a lot to live up to. But at least it is coming.
The Fiesta quickly became the bedrock of Ford’s UK sales
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