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Producer: Electric Planet News
Author: Yu Fei
The biggest news in the automotive world today, Ford splits up.
According to an announcement at Ford's headquarters yesterday, the veteran U.S. car company will push ahead with a plan called "Ford+", where Ford's civilian gasoline and electric vehicles will be split into two divisions that are "completely independent but strategically interdependent."
Among them, the gasoline car division will be named Ford Blue, and the electric vehicle division will be "Model e", which is almost the "e" named after Tesla's Model 3 in 2014.
"This is the ford group's biggest growth and value creation opportunity since Henry Ford expanded production of the Model T," Ford Group President and CEO Jim Farley said in an official article.
According to Ford's own definition, the two business units have different strategic goals and visions:
Model e will focus on attracting the best software, engineering, design, and user experience talent; developing a pure electric vehicle platform to achieve technology leadership in the field of three electrics; and building a software platform and a networkable vehicle architecture.
Ford Blue will work on new spin-off models (pickups, legacy product families, etc.); support the Model e in basic areas such as engineering and testing; reduce costs, improve quality, and create profitability.
In 2022, Ford opened with a new organizational structure, and the new Model e division can accelerate, or even qualitatively change, Ford's intelligent electric process? Where will the gasoline vehicle sector face the era of change?
Let's get started.
First, Model e "finally" debuted
This is an old story of electric car fans who will smile when they hear it.
The initials of Tesla's 8 production models, according to the original plan, can be composed of two words " SEXY CARS ( sexy cars ) - except for the Model 3.
Musk said in an interview with CNN Money that in 2014 he revealed to a friend that Tesla sedans would be named Model E, and then there was the name battle, and finally Tesla failed to keep its SEXY CARS.
But until today, we know that the Model e is not a car for Ford, but a division, e for electric.
Jim Farley said Ford's ambition is to be a "truly great, world-changing" company again. To achieve this, smart electric vehicles, the Model e division, need "start-up speed and innovation without scruples."
For an auto company that has been listed in the United States for more than a century,000 years ago, even before Musk was born (Ford's January 18, 1956 IPO), the tangled board of directors has made considerable concessions to be able to say things like "unbridled."
Model e, can be understood as concessions, urgency, enterprising and other emotions and motivations, Ford's collective turn around the first step. In a sense, the Model E is more than the public in the last two years – because the former is a collective force, while the latter is more like a leader's cry.
Let's talk about the main business and leadership structure of the Model e division, the undoubted "smart + electric", and the "new blood".
Ford's official definition of it is an "innovation center," a team of "the world's best software, electrical and electronics, and automotive talent" — software comes first.
As for the Vision and Intelligence of the Model E, Ford summed it up in 4 points:
Attract and retain the best software, engineering, design, and user experience talent to refine new technologies and concepts that can be applied across ford enterprises;
Take a new approach to designing, rolling out and scaling groundbreaking, high-capacity electric and internet products and services for retail, commerce and shared mobility;
Develop key technologies and capabilities – such as EV platforms, batteries, electric motors, inverters, charging and recycling – to create breakthrough EVs;
Create software platforms and fully networked vehicle architectures to support delightful, always-on, and continuously improved vehicles and experiences.
The above 4 points can actually be understood as follows: Ford will do its best in the Model E business unit to reduce the pressure from the board of directors and shareholders. Go light with a posture more like a "new force" and build a car with software-oriented thinking.
Another interesting thing is the official statement: "Model e will also be the first to create a new buying and using experience for future EV customers, including a simple and intuitive e-commerce platform, transparent pricing and personalized customer support."
What do you mean?
Ford's dealership system in the United States is called "Ford location", and by the beginning of 2022, there are more than 3,000 Ford locations in the United States, which looks like this on the map:
If you want to achieve "intuitive", "transparent" and "new buying experience", the cooperation between these more than 3,000 locations and Model E, or game, will become an important task for the new electric division.
The direction is set, and then it is the matter of money and people.
Ford said it will invest $5 billion in the electric vehicle business in 2022, a tripling from 2021. Over the next five years, Ford's total investment in electrification will reach $50 billion, which is two-thirds higher than the previous $30 billion plan.
Supported by a more vertical organizational structure and larger investment, Ford's electrification sales target has also reached the level of 2 million vehicles sold in 2026 – accounting for about 1/3 of Ford's global production - and further expanded to 50% in 2030.
Ford and SK partner at a battery plant in Georgia
In order to achieve these goals, Ford has built enough "electric" and "smart" executive teams for the Model e.
Doug Field, a former chief engineer at Apple And tesla's Model 3, was named chief electric vehicle and digital systems officer in the Model E division six months after entering the Ford system, reporting to group CEO Jim Farley.
Doug Field
Reporting directly to Doug is Lisa Drake, an "electrification star" who grew up in the Ford system and a 2008 U.S. Automotive Hall of Fame Young Leadership and Excellence Award, who will serve as vice president of electric vehicle industrialization at Model e.
Lisa previously held the role of Chief Operating Officer of Ford North America, and "electric" is the essence of her resume: From 2007 to 2010, as Ford's Global Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Chief Engineer, she led the hybrid development of several major Models for Ford and Lincoln.
Jim Farley, beyond Dies' determination to change?
If Doug and Lisa are the leaders of the Model e division, then the president of the Model e division, Ford Group CEO Jim Farley Jim Farley, is the "marshal" who led the ford group's collective turnaround.
Jim, who will turn 60 this year, has a deep relationship with Ford, and his grandfather, Emmet Tracy, is employee #389 at Ford's Model T plant.
Jim didn't grow up in the Ford system, however, and before entering Ford, he was the proud son of Toyota North America — even if his first car was even a Mustang.
If you think the wave of reform that Dees set off at Wolfsburg is choppy enough, then Jim in Alborn actually bursts out the same passion for reform.
Bill Vlasic, then president of The New York Times Detroit, once wrote in his book "The Car Of The Past": Shortly after Jim entered Ford in 2007, he shouted "Fxxk GM!" in a meeting with his subordinates.
Jim's passion and commitment are evident – and this passion and focus may be the reason why Ford's board is willing to let him "gamble".
How to gamble? Dismantled Ford's gasoline division and told the world that "we are going to subsidize the money we make on gasoline vehicles to the development of electric vehicles."
Ford F150 Raptor
Ford Blue, which is the new name for Ford's gasoline division. Blue is not strictly an environmental image here, but represents the century-old tradition of Ford Blue, and the century-old traditional gasoline car business.
On ford's official website, the definition of the responsibilities of the Ford Blue division is:
Focus on upgrading customers' favorite iconic Ford cars, such as the F-Series, Mustang, etc.;
Helping customers to express their passion and enrich their daily lives, especially in scenarios where internal combustion engine capacity is required;
Provide customers with new, connected, personalized and always-on experiences empowered by the Model e Division;
Make quality and service a reason for users to choose and always walk with Ford;
Eradicate waste and significantly reduce product, manufacturing and quality costs;
Support Model e and Ford Pro through engineering, procurement, manufacturing, and vehicle testing and development capabilities.
To sum up, Ford Blue will become the "daddy" of the Ford Group.
Expanding the advantages of petrol models such as pickups for traditional projects, which is open source; reducing unnecessary costs, which is throttling; and most likely Ford Blue will no longer be responsible for software development, but by the Model e division.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Jim Farley said that $50 billion (of electric vehicles) comes entirely from Ford's existing core business, which is also the core reason for the establishment of Ford Blue , Ford needs more profitable gasoline vehicles to support the growth of its electric vehicle business.
Support is Ford's biggest expectation for Thed Blue Division - in 2026, Ford aims not only 2 million electric vehicles, but also a 10% EBIT margin.
How to promote the technological progress and cost reduction of Ford's intelligent electric vehicles in these 5 years, the standard car of the "old white man" in the paragraph has to add another firewood to the new era.
This fire also belongs to Jim Farley.
Before he took office in 2020, Ford had two CEOs in six years. As of today, Jim has only been in office for a year and a half. But from the perspective of the "Ford+" plan, the board of directors is still at least in the short term, still assured to delegate the authority of reform to him.
"He can make others work hard because he works hard himself," former Ford Group CFO Bob Shanks once said of him, "He can make some tough decisions and really encourage people to do it."
Also around 60-year-old reformers, Jim Farley and Dies, fired the first shot in the last hard battle of their careers.
Third, the cut is continuous, and the rationale is still chaotic?
In the last paragraph of the article, we would like to ask some questions.
After today, Ford will usher in a new corporate structure. In addition to the Model e and Ford Blue mentioned above, there are commercial vehicle division Ford Pro, digital interconnection division Ford Drive, autonomous driving division Ford AV, and luxury brand Lincoln.
"Mountains" may not be enough, but the coordination, division of labor, and even games between departments will definitely become an issue on The road to Ford's electrification reform – common to the logic of dealers and direct sales above.
How does Ford want to unite? Will the new organizational structure be more efficient?
After today, another conclusion may be regrettable: after today, the former "Edison Team" project may become a page in Ford's history.
In 2017, Ford announced that it would establish a "team Edison," for The first time Ford has focused on smart electric vehicles, led by Ford's European team.
Sherif Marakby, Then Ford's vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification, said in an interview with Forbes that "the most important thing is for this team to think big, move fast, and react quickly."
However, instead of waiting for Ford's Model 3, Ford signed an agreement with Volkswagen in June 2021 to use the MEB platform to build Ford's electric vehicles — we may wait for Ford's ID.3.
Jim Farley was radical enough, and Ford's rush from organizational structure to electrification has shocked many friends in the industry today.
But Ford still has a lot of questions to answer. When will the world-wide pilot assist be released? When will the entry-level pure electric platform models be released? When will the Chinese market usher in the second pure electric model?
After the announcement of the split today, we interviewed Zhang Junwei, vice president of user operations and communications for Ford's Electric Vehicle Division, who conveyed his confidence in Ford's electrification:
"The Chinese side is already one step ahead, and Ford electric vehicles are already independently operated systems. Together with the world, we will continue to accelerate the electrification transformation."
Good luck.
(End)
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