Electric Ford family SUV confirmed

Ford boss Jim Farley has confirmed the Detroit-based auto giant will roll out a new flagship three-row pure-electric family SUV, steering away from the global five-seater crossover EV market which he claims is reaching “overcapacity”.

Ford has just posted losses of $US700 million ($A1.05 billion) for its recently founded Model e business in the first quarter of 2023, and reported that sales of its Mustang Mach-E – which is set to launch in Australia later this year – were slowing.

Speaking to analysts, Farley said “we could see the overcapacity in the two-row electric utility segment years ago”, referencing the five-seat SUV market that’s now dominated by the Tesla Model Y.

Ford itself has just entered the segment with the 2024 Ford Explorer EV in Europe, which is based on the Volkswagen ID.4.

However, Farley predicts that by 2025 there’ll be no fewer than 45 five-seat EVs across the small and mid-size SUV categories.

“In contrast to two-row crossovers that we believe will be a very saturated market, we believe Model e can be highly differentiated in markets where we know the customer well, like the three-row utility space,” he said.

“A lot of new customers bought a Lightning [EV ute] that never owned a pick-up truck before. And we intend to do that with a three-row crossover and with a bunch of EV Pro vehicles.”

Farley said more will be revealed at the end of the month at a special investor day focusing on future models.

As well as confirming the new electric large SUV, Ford also announced the price of its Mustang Mach-E would cut by up to $US3700 ($A5500) in the US market.

The cuts come with the switch to cheaper lithium-iron phosphate (LFP) batteries.

There’s no word yet on whether LFP batteries will be included on the Mustang Mach-E cars sold in Australia, and whether the switch will improve its positioning in our market.

Global sales of the Mach-E dropped to 12,000 units across the first three months of this year, although Ford says those numbers relate to an overhaul of the Mexican factory where it’s built and that production will be soon ramped up to help satisfy demand.

The Blue Oval also recently confirmed the Ford Puma EV will be launched in Australia in 2024 as one of five new electrified models it has committed to selling here before the end of next year.

As well as the Mustang Mach-E, these include the Ford E-Transit large electric van launching this month and the Ford E-Transit Custom mid-size electric van next year.

The jury is still out on the fifth model in the pipeline.

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