Ford will launch seven electric vehicles before the end of 2024, including Puma EV and sports SUV

Ford has detailed intends to launch seven new electric vehicles in Europe before the end of 2024 – including a battery-electric version of the pint-sized Puma SUV, and something like one model twinned with a Volkswagen. Ford has sped up its electric vehicle plans for Europe, launching seven new models, declaring a battery gigafactory in Turkey, doubling investment in Germany, and phasing out emissions from vans by 2035.

Declared overnight, Ford expects to sell 600,000 electric vehicles (EVs) in Europe by 2026 – a target it intends to hit with the launch of seven new EVs before the finish of 2024, contained four SUVs, two commercial vans, and two people movers.

Ford Australia is yet to affirm which of the new models will be sold locally, but the brand has previously affirmed “at least” five hybrid or electric cars before the finish of 2024 – however it’s not clear if or when the much-requested Mustang Mach-E electric SUV will come to local showrooms.

At the centre of the roll-out will be the Cologne, Germany factory – presently home to the Fiesta city car – which will create a new mid-size electric SUV from 2023, followed by a “sports crossover” in 2024.

The US maker had previously vowed to make all cars in Europe electric by 2030 yet had not set an end date for commercial vehicles. The move causes qualms about the eventual future of Ford’s Dagenham plant in the UK, which makes diesel engines for Transit vans.

Ford said it would launch seven new electric models in Europe by 2024, and was focusing on sales of 600,000 EVs per year on the landmass by 2026 – an immense increment. Its only model right now on sale, the Mustang Mach E imported from Mexico, sold only 23,000 units in 2021.

Ford and Volkswagen have shown the two models will ride on VW’s MEB devoted electric platform, as part of a partnership between the brands that are likewise set to produce the next Ford Transit Courier and VW Transporter vans (more in a second), and the new Ford Ranger and next Volkswagen Amarok utes.

The “five-seat, medium-sized crossover” – which will claim 500km of driving range on a charge, with dimensions like the present Ford Escape – will be uncovered (close by its name) later in 2022, in front of production initiating in 2023.

The use of Volkswagen’s MEB should see the new Ford gravitate toward joins with its German mid-size SUV platform-mate, the Volkswagen ID.4, which presents 520km of WLTP driving range, and a choice of rear- or all-wheel-drive layouts creating up to 220kW.

Hardly any subtleties of the 2024 “sports crossover” have been declared, however, it will share the 2023 SUV’s MEB underpinnings – with a teaser picture exhibiting a novel ‘dual-eye’ lighting signature and a lower roofline than the model going before it, indicating its sportier goals.

Ford recently filed to trademark five classic names of its past – Capri, Cortina, Granada, Orion, and Escort – which could be used for the new SUVs.

The organization resuscitated the Puma sports car badge for a small SUV in 2019 – recommending the games SUV’s dual-eye lights may be a nod to a classic Ford, like the Capri coupe or Cortina family car.

The two Cologne-built models will be joined in 2024 by an electric version of the Puma city SUV – affirming exclusive detailing by Drive last month, showing the Puma EV would launch for the Model Year 2025 (MY25) with underpinnings shared with the petrol-powered model.

Joining the three new SUVs will be four commercial vehicles – split across two vans, and two individual movers spun off their underpinnings and bodywork.

The next-generation Transit Custom mid-size van will launch with an electric option in 2023, as a twin of the next Volkswagen Transporter – however, petrol, diesel, and/or hybrid options will stay accessible to catch a more extensive market.

A new Transit Courier city van will acquire an electric variation in 2024 – following petrol or diesel models in 2023 – sitting one size under a Volkswagen Caddy or Peugeot Partner, and twinned with the previously mentioned electric Puma.

The Transit Custom and Transit Courier will generate Tourneo Custom and Tourneo Courier people movers respectively, due around the same years as their van counterparts. The Custom twins will be inherent in Turkey, while the Courier models will be made close by the Puma in Romania.

Set to power future Ford electric vehicles in Europe might be a new joint-venture factory in Ankara, Turkey which will open “as early as mid-decade” and is “likely” to create somewhere in the range of 30 and 45 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of batteries every year. Notwithstanding, the specifics of the factory still can’t seem to be affirmed and signed off.

Ford’s European electric vehicle rollout – enabled through its new ‘Model e’ spin-off business entity (organization) – is the latest step to accomplish its objective of offering a hybrid or electric version of each traveler car or SUV it sells by mid-2026, or each commercial vehicle by 2024.

That is expected to include the Ford Ranger ute which, as detailed by Drive last month, is set to add a plug-in hybrid powertrain option in late 2023, or at some point in 2024.

All Ford traveler cars and SUVs sold in Europe in 2030 are focused on being electric-only. The organization is “targeting” carbon neutrality in the region by 2035.

“Our march toward an all-electric future is an absolute necessity for Ford to meet the mobility needs of customers across a transforming Europe,” said Stuart Rowley, chair, Ford of Europe.

“We know that electric vehicles are a big part of our future, and we’re very excited by Ford of Europe’s announcement yesterday … In Australia we have plans for at least five new EVs by the end of 2024, with the Escape PHEV and fully-electric E-Transit the first arrivals in 2022,” a Ford Australia spokesperson said in a statement shared with Drive.

“We’re pleased to see a growing appetite for EVs in Australia, and we’re taking a considered approach to electrification to make sure we get our offering right for our customers. Whether their vehicle is for commercial or personal use, Ford owners are very clear that they expect toughness, performance, and capability from our vehicles, and so our focus is on offering EVs that meet those expectations.”

For its commercial vehicle operations, Ford is more open about its future possibilities, with the present declaration flaunting one more four vehicles to go on sale close by the E-Transit.

First, up for 2023 will be the fully-electric Transit Custom van and Tourneo Custom “multi-purpose vehicle” (otherwise called a people mover), followed by smaller versions of the two models as the Transit Courier van and Tourneo Courier in 2024.

The Courier variants of every van are set to be produced close by the Puma at Ford’s Romanian plant under the ownership of Otosan, a joint venture with Turkish business, Koç Holding.

An extension in Turkey is additionally on the cards with Ford declaring the signing of a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with Koç Holding and SK On Co. Ltd., trying to assemble a new EV battery facility close to Ankara with an annual capacity of 30-45GWh targeted by the middle of the decade.

Ford’s Australian arm has previously affirmed it will acquaint five electrified models with its range by 2025, with the E-Transit scheduled to be the first all-electric model with a mid-2022 arrival.

On top of the E-Transit, a plug-in hybrid variant of the Escape SUV will likewise land this year while the leftover three models have been left open for interpretation, even though it’s probable both the new Ranger ute and Everest large SUV are set to become the next electrified models.

Regardless of being sold-out around the world, the Mustang Mach-E is the next likely possibility to come to Australia, becoming Ford’s first electric traveler vehicle for the local market – notwithstanding, the maker has not affirmed nor denied these plans.

New petrol and diesel vans will be prohibited from sale in the UK from 2030.

Ford will in the meantime be contributing $2bn at its Cologne site and extending its partnership with Volkswagen to double the number of cars constructed using its drive technology, to 1.2m vehicles more than six years.

It has additionally signed a memorandum of understanding for a joint venture to assemble one of Europe’s biggest battery factories, fabricating nickel cells at a plant close to Ankara, with sponsorship from the Turkish government.

An electric version of the Puma, Ford’s bestselling traveler vehicle in Europe last year, will be accessible from 2024, to be produced at the global company’s plant in Craiova, Romania.