Ford To Focus on Electric Vehicles and Digitization

On Thursday, Ford announced a major boost of its investment in electric autos and indicated that it may collaborate aggressively with other major names in technology on expanding driving digitalization.

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The updated plan was indulged as Ford experienced a fourth-quarter loss of $2.8 billion, whereas loss of $1.7 billion in the previous year. There was a significant fall of 9.3 per cent revenue to $36 billion. Ford targets an operating profit of up to $8billion-$9 billion, which was $2.8 billion in the year 2020, that’s when the company was affected by a steep sales drop reason being Covid-19.

On Thursday, Ford announced a major boost of its investment in electric autos and indicated that it may collaborate aggressively with other major names in technology on expanding driving digitalization. The United State auto major published the fourth-quarter and annual results and signalled to plan a $22 billion in sector-specific to the electric car through the year 2025, which is twice the existing investment record. This announcement seems to be the largest committed bet on electric automobile industry by an auto company with a significant legacy in wake of rising star Tesla’s constant growth and anticipation in Biden government about the emission-free automobile.

General Motors, which is a major rival of Ford announced a complete emission-free production by the year 2035. Chief Executive Jim Farley said, “It’s stunning how fast the industry is changing”. He is the one who poked the electric auto sale in Europe to the highest. Farley indicated strong leaning in Ford's Mustang Mach-E, one of Ford’s electric vehicle in sport-utility category arrived showrooms in December. The automaker aims an all-auto e-electric sale also consisting the F-150 pickup truck, which showed highest sales record. Farley in a conference call along with analysts said, "The costs are coming down quickly, but for me and the team, the move to electric is not about batteries and motors,". He further added, "It's about a digital vehicle and a new customers experience."

The updated plan was indulged as Ford experienced a fourth-quarter loss of $2.8 billion, whereas loss of $1.7 billion in the previous year. There was a significant fall of 9.3 per cent revenue to $36 billion. Ford targets an operating profit of up to $8billion-$9 billion, which was $2.8 billion in the year 2020, that’s when the company was affected by a steep sales drop reason being Covid-19. On Monday Ford revealed possible team-up with Google for its cloud computing platform deployment. Farley also stated, Google venture isn’t "exclusive" and that vehicle manufactured by ford may also include amazon and apple voice assistance too. He further added, "The technology partners are becoming more and more important for us to deliver the digital experience".

Knowing supplies could face competition and challenges because of flooding manufacturers into the electric motor era, Farley revealed that Ford auto is prepared and planning to improvise and lock over electric battery capacity. The auto industry is currently going through a semiconductor shortage resulting from an over increased demand for chips over the last year from electronics customers. Ford aimed an operating profit for the year, which could be dented by $1 to $2.5 billion because of lost auto sales regarding the shortage of semiconductors. Early on Thursday, Ford stated it is about to shorten its output of F-150 reason being the supply issue, including General Motors that published on Tuesday about shutting productions at three-node plants and shutting output in the other half due to challenge in chip supply. Farley further added about battery capacity, “We want to lock it up". "We cannot afford to be in the situation we are with the semiconductors right now." Ford shares rose 1.2 per cent in after-hours trading to $11.51.

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