Ford Motor Co will significantly increase its planned investments in electric vehicles to $11 billion by 2022 and have 40 hybrid and fully electric vehicles in its model lineup, Chairman Bill Ford said on Sunday at the Detroit auto show.

The investment figure is sharply higher than a previously announced target of $4.5 billion by 2020, Ford executives said, and includes the costs of developing dedicated electric vehicle architectures. Ford&#39;s engineering, research and development expenses for 2016, the last full year available, were $7.3 billion, up from $6.7 billion in 2015.

Ford Chief Executive Jim Hackett told investors last October the automaker would slash $14 billion in costs over the next five years and shift capital investment away from sedans and internal combustion engines to develop more trucks and electric and hybrid cars.

Of the 40 electrified vehicles Ford plans for its global lineup by 2022, 16 will be fully electric and the rest will be plug-in hybrids, executives said.

&quot;We&#39;re all in on this and we&#39;re taking our mainstream vehicles, our most iconic vehicles, and we&#39;re electrifying them,&quot; Ford told reporters. &quot;If we want to be successful with electrification, we have to do it with vehicles that are already popular.&quot;

General Motors Co, Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG, have already outlined aggressive plans to expand their electric vehicle offerings and offer them to consumers who want luxury, performance and an SUV body style - or all three attributes in the same vehicle.

Mainstream auto makers are reacting in part to pressure from regulators in China, Europe and California to slash carbon emissions from fossil fuels. They also are under pressure from

Tesla Inc&#39;s success at creating electric sedans and SUVs that inspire would-be owners to line up outside showrooms and flood the company with orders.

GM said last year it would add 20 new battery electric and fuel cell vehicles to its global lineup by 2023, financed by robust profits from those very same traditional internal combustion engine vehicles in the United States and China.

GM Chief Executive Mary Barra has promised investors the Detroit automaker will make money selling electric cars by 2021.

Volkswagen said in November it would spend $40 billion on electric cars, autonomous driving and new mobility services by the end of 2022 &ndash; significantly more than when it announced two months earlier it would invest more than 20 billion euros on electric and self-driving cars through 2030.

Toyota is racing to commercialize a breakthrough battery technology during the first half of the 2020s with the potential to cut the cost of making electric cars.

Ford&#39;s president of global markets, Jim Farley, said on Sunday that Ford would bring a high-performance electric utility vehicle to market by 2020. The company will begin production of a hybrid version of its popular F-150 truck at a plant in Dearborn, Michigan, in 2020.

&quot;What we learned from this first cycle of electrification is people want really nice products,&quot; Farley said.

Ford&rsquo;s shift to the electric vehicle strategy has been more than six months in the making after Hackett replaced former Chief Executive Mark Fields in May.

The plan was finalized in recent months after an extensive review, a person familiar with the process said. In October, Ford disclosed it had formed a team to accelerate global development of electric vehicles, whose mission is to &ldquo;think big&rdquo; and &ldquo;make quicker decisions.&rdquo;

Some of the electric vehicles will be produced with Ford&rsquo;s JV in China aimed at the Chinese market. One aim of Ford&rsquo;s &ldquo;Team Edison&rdquo; is to identify and develop electric-vehicle partnerships with other companies, including suppliers, in some markets, according to Sherif Marakby, vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification.

China, India, France and the United Kingdom all have announced plans to phase out vehicles powered by combustion engines and fossil fuels between 2030 and 2040.

Ford Chief Executive Jim Hackett told investors last October the automaker would slash $14 billion in costs over the next five years and shift capital investment away from sedans and internal combustion engines to develop more trucks and electric and hybrid cars

Ford Motor Co will significantly increase its planned investments in electric vehicles to $11 billion by 2022 and have 40 hybrid and fully electric vehicles in its model lineup, Chairman Bill Ford said on Sunday at the Detroit auto show. The investment figure is sharply higher than a previously announced target of $4.5 billion by 2020, Ford executives said, and includes the costs of developing dedicated electric vehicle architectures. Ford's engineering, research and development expenses for 2016, the last full year available, were $7.3 billion, up from $6.7 billion in 2015. Ford Chief Executive Jim Hackett told investors last October the automaker would slash $14 billion in costs over the next five years and shift capital investment away from sedans and internal combustion engines to develop more trucks and electric and hybrid cars. Of the 40 electrified vehicles Ford plans for its global lineup by 2022, 16 will be fully electric and the rest will be plug-in hybrids, executives said. "We're all in on this and we're taking our mainstream vehicles, our most iconic vehicles, and we're electrifying them," Ford told reporters. "If we want to be successful with electrification, we have to do it with vehicles that are already popular." General Motors Co, Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen AG, have already outlined aggressive plans to expand their electric vehicle offerings and offer them to consumers who want luxury, performance and an SUV body style - or all three attributes in the same vehicle. Mainstream auto makers are reacting in part to pressure from regulators in China, Europe and California to slash carbon emissions from fossil fuels. They also are under pressure from Tesla Inc's success at creating electric sedans and SUVs that inspire would-be owners to line up outside showrooms and flood the company with orders. GM said last year it would add 20 new battery electric and fuel cell vehicles to its global lineup by 2023, financed by robust profits from those very same traditional internal combustion engine vehicles in the United States and China. GM Chief Executive Mary Barra has promised investors the Detroit automaker will make money selling electric cars by 2021. Volkswagen said in November it would spend $40 billion on electric cars, autonomous driving and new mobility services by the end of 2022 – significantly more than when it announced two months earlier it would invest more than 20 billion euros on electric and self-driving cars through 2030. Toyota is racing to commercialize a breakthrough battery technology during the first half of the 2020s with the potential to cut the cost of making electric cars. Ford's president of global markets, Jim Farley, said on Sunday that Ford would bring a high-performance electric utility vehicle to market by 2020. The company will begin production of a hybrid version of its popular F-150 truck at a plant in Dearborn, Michigan, in 2020. "What we learned from this first cycle of electrification is people want really nice products," Farley said. Ford’s shift to the electric vehicle strategy has been more than six months in the making after Hackett replaced former Chief Executive Mark Fields in May. The plan was finalized in recent months after an extensive review, a person familiar with the process said. In October, Ford disclosed it had formed a team to accelerate global development of electric vehicles, whose mission is to “think big” and “make quicker decisions.” Some of the electric vehicles will be produced with Ford’s JV in China aimed at the Chinese market. One aim of Ford’s “Team Edison” is to identify and develop electric-vehicle partnerships with other companies, including suppliers, in some markets, according to Sherif Marakby, vice president of autonomous vehicles and electrification. China, India, France and the United Kingdom all have announced plans to phase out vehicles powered by combustion engines and fossil fuels between 2030 and 2040.

Ford plans $11 billion investment, 40 electric vehicles by 2022

Ford is replacing CEO Mark Fields as it struggles to keep its traditional auto-manufacturing business running smoothly while remaking itself as a nimble, high-tech provider of new mobility services.

The 114-year-old automaker said Fields is retiring at the age of 56 after 28 years at the company. Fields will be replaced by Jim Hackett, who joined Ford&#39;s board in 2013. Hackett has led Ford&#39;s mobility unit since March of last year.

In three years as CEO, Fields began Ford&#39;s transition from a traditional automaker into a &quot;mobility&quot; company, laying out plans to build autonomous vehicles and explore new services such as ride-hailing and car-sharing. Under Fields, Ford achieved a record pretax profit of $10.8 billion in 2015 as SUV and truck sales soared in the US.

But there were rumblings that Fields wasn&#39;t focused enough on Ford&#39;s core business, as popular products like the Fusion sedan grew dated and Ford lagged behind rivals in bringing long-range electric cars to the market.

The stock price sagged, and electric car maker Tesla even passed Ford in market value. Ford&#39;s stock price has fallen almost 40 per cent since Fields became CEO in July 2014.

Hackett is the former CEO of Steelcase, one of the world&#39;s largest office furniture companies. He is credited with transforming that company, in part by predicting the shift away from cubicles and into open office plans.

But he first had to cut thousands of jobs and moved furniture production from the US to Mexico to stem massive losses at the company.

Ford&#39;s Executive Chairman, Bill Ford said in an interview that Hackett is the right person to lead Ford as it expands into new business areas, like making self-driving shuttles, because he&#39;s a &quot;visionary&quot; who knows how to remake a business. Car companies are facing increasing competition from Google, Uber and others as they try to plot their next moves.

&quot;These are really unparalleled times, and it really requires transformational leadership during these times,&quot; Bill Ford said.

Hackett also served as the interim athletic director at the University of Michigan from 2014 to 2016. In that role, he lured star football coach Jim Harbaugh.

Bill Ford insisted that Fields wasn&#39;t fired. He called Fields &quot;an outstanding leader&quot; who orchestrated the company&#39;s turnaround a decade ago when he was head of Ford&#39;s Americas division.

&quot;He and I sat down Friday and really decided this was the right time for him to go and for us to have new leadership,&quot; Bill Ford said. &quot;People can speculate all they want about that. But the fact is, he is (retiring), and I feel we&#39;ve got a great leader in Jim.&quot;

And Ford hasn&#39;t kept up with rivals in the electric car market. General Motors&#39; Chevrolet Bolt electric car, with 238 miles of range, went on sale last year; Ford is working on an electric SUV with 300 miles of range, but it&#39;s not due out until 2020.

Meanwhile, Mary Barra who became GM&#39;s CEO about six months before Fields became Ford&#39;s has made a series of headline-grabbing moves, such as forming a partnership with the ride-hailing company Lyft and pulling GM out of unprofitable markets, including Europe, India and South Africa.

Still, GM faces unhappy investors of its own with its stock slightly below the $33 initial public offering price from November 2010.

Ford also made investments in new mobility companies and announced it would have a self-driving shuttle on the road by 2021, but its efforts haven&#39;t swayed investors. Hackett is confident he can placate Wall Street.

&quot;The way that that gets fixed is the nature of the innovation and the ideas making their way into the market,&quot; Hackett said.

&quot;It even sounds a little corny but the stock price is a consequence of the actions we&#39;re going to take to make the company more fit, more profitable and a more fun place to work.&quot;

(AP)

Ford is replacing CEO Mark Fields as it struggles to keep its traditional auto-manufacturing business running smoothly

Ford is replacing CEO Mark Fields as it struggles to keep its traditional auto-manufacturing business running smoothly while remaking itself as a nimble, high-tech provider of new mobility services. The 114-year-old automaker said Fields is retiring at the age of 56 after 28 years at the company. Fields will be replaced by Jim Hackett, who joined Ford's board in 2013. Hackett has led Ford's mobility unit since March of last year. In three years as CEO, Fields began Ford's transition from a traditional automaker into a "mobility" company, laying out plans to build autonomous vehicles and explore new services such as ride-hailing and car-sharing. Under Fields, Ford achieved a record pretax profit of $10.8 billion in 2015 as SUV and truck sales soared in the US. But there were rumblings that Fields wasn't focused enough on Ford's core business, as popular products like the Fusion sedan grew dated and Ford lagged behind rivals in bringing long-range electric cars to the market. The stock price sagged, and electric car maker Tesla even passed Ford in market value. Ford's stock price has fallen almost 40 per cent since Fields became CEO in July 2014. Hackett is the former CEO of Steelcase, one of the world's largest office furniture companies. He is credited with transforming that company, in part by predicting the shift away from cubicles and into open office plans. But he first had to cut thousands of jobs and moved furniture production from the US to Mexico to stem massive losses at the company. Ford's Executive Chairman, Bill Ford said in an interview that Hackett is the right person to lead Ford as it expands into new business areas, like making self-driving shuttles, because he's a "visionary" who knows how to remake a business. Car companies are facing increasing competition from Google, Uber and others as they try to plot their next moves. "These are really unparalleled times, and it really requires transformational leadership during these times," Bill Ford said. Hackett also served as the interim athletic director at the University of Michigan from 2014 to 2016. In that role, he lured star football coach Jim Harbaugh. Bill Ford insisted that Fields wasn't fired. He called Fields "an outstanding leader" who orchestrated the company's turnaround a decade ago when he was head of Ford's Americas division. "He and I sat down Friday and really decided this was the right time for him to go and for us to have new leadership," Bill Ford said. "People can speculate all they want about that. But the fact is, he is (retiring), and I feel we've got a great leader in Jim." And Ford hasn't kept up with rivals in the electric car market. General Motors' Chevrolet Bolt electric car, with 238 miles of range, went on sale last year; Ford is working on an electric SUV with 300 miles of range, but it's not due out until 2020. Meanwhile, Mary Barra who became GM's CEO about six months before Fields became Ford's has made a series of headline-grabbing moves, such as forming a partnership with the ride-hailing company Lyft and pulling GM out of unprofitable markets, including Europe, India and South Africa. Still, GM faces unhappy investors of its own with its stock slightly below the $33 initial public offering price from November 2010. Ford also made investments in new mobility companies and announced it would have a self-driving shuttle on the road by 2021, but its efforts haven't swayed investors. Hackett is confident he can placate Wall Street. "The way that that gets fixed is the nature of the innovation and the ideas making their way into the market," Hackett said. "It even sounds a little corny but the stock price is a consequence of the actions we're going to take to make the company more fit, more profitable and a more fun place to work." (AP)

Ford names Jim Hackett as new CEO

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Ford plans $11 billion investment, 40 electric vehicles by 2022

Ford names Jim Hackett as new CEO