AD #3272 – Ford Splits in Two: ICE vs. BEV; Stellantis to Unleash 75 BEVs; Polestar Shows Off Convertible Concept

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

FORD SPLITS IN TWO: ICE VS. BEV
There was a seismic shift in the auto industry overnight. Ford, Stellantis and Hyundai all announced major changes that all have to do with the electric revolution. We start out with Ford where Jim Farly announced one of the biggest changes in the history of the company.

Ford is going to split into two business units. And even though both will still be inside the company they’re going to operate completely separately.

The Model e side of the business is going to be run by Doug Field, who Ford hired away from Apple and who also worked at Tesla.

But Ford made it abundantly clear that it’s going to keep investing in its iconic vehicles powered by IC engines.

The ICE part of the business, Ford Blue, will be run by Kumar Galhotra. The electric side, Model e, will be run by Doug Field with Lisa Drake reporting to him. Hau Thai Tang will now be the in-between guy who bridges the gap between both business groups. And Stewart Rowley, who had been running Ford of Europe, will now be in charge of transformation and quality.

Ford is splitting into BEV and ICE because CEO Jim Farley says they need a clean-sheet approach to developing EVs. And it goes beyond just the vehicles themselves. He says Ford needs new talent, new supply chains, and even a new distribution model. Ford is even going to copy how Tesla sells cars, completely online, with no inventory at dealerships. Now the question is, how many other legacy automakers are going to do what Ford is doing? No automaker wants to be seen as a copy-cat, but they’re clearly going to have to respond because Ford just threw down the gauntlet.

STELLANTIS TO UNLEASH 75 BEVS
So that’s what Ford announced this morning, but yesterday Stellantis also announced big changes. It’s going to come out with 75 BEVs, you heard that right: 75. And it will have the manufacturing capacity to make 5 million electric vehicles by 2030. From 2026 on, it’s only going to launch BEVs in the European market, and in the US it expects 50% of sales to be pure electric by 2030. CEO Carlos Tavares announced initiatives in software, e-commerce, mobility, captive financing, pre-owned cars, commercial vehicles, and a business re-set in China. Put it all together and he says Stellantis will double its revenue to €300 billion by the end of this decade.

HYUNDAI SHOVELS BILLIONS INTO BEVS, AVS AND SOFTWARE
Now we go to Hyundai which announced plans to invest $79 billion in electrification, software technologies and autonomous driving through 2030. $16 billion of that is going towards electrification. Hyundai will introduce 17 new BEVs by the end of the decade, including 11 for Hyundai and 6 for Genesis. The IONIQ 6 will launch this year followed by the IONIQ 7 in 2024, while Genesis will introduce the all-electric GV70 this year as well. Future BEVs will ride on a new Integrated Modular Architecture, which will feature a cell-to-pack design, much more standardized components and is expected to come out in 2025. This means it will also have to increase manufacturing capacity for BEVs and that could include a new plant that’s dedicated to making electrics. Another major area of investment is software. $10 billion is going towards that. It will include OTAs, in-car services and autonomous driving. In fact, Hyundai will launch Level 3 capability sometime this year in the Genesis G90. By 2030, Hyundai’s plan it to sell 1.87 million BEVs a year, which would give it roughly 7% of the global market.

RIVIAN RAISES PRICES SHARPLY
Rivian just ticked off a lot of customers. It announced big price increases for its R1T pickup and R1S SUV. And we do mean big. The base price of the truck is now $79,500 up a staggering $12,000 and the SUV now starts at $84,500, up a whopping $14,500. Rivian blames higher component costs, parts shortages and inflation. And it’s not just new customers that have to pay these prices, the increases are being passed on to most customers that already pre-ordered the vehicles. That set off a firestorm of complaints on social media and some customers even canceled their orders. Who can blame them? Elon Musk even jumped into the fray, Tweeting out that Rivian’s “negative gross margin will be staggering” and that it’s “nearly impossible” for other companies to make affordable electric trucks.

MORE OEMS BAIL ON RUSSIA
More and more automakers are suspending operations in Russia because it invaded Ukraine. Ford is suspending operations with its joint venture partners in Russia. BMW is suspending sales and production. Volkswagen will have to idle some production in Germany because of supply issues. Honda stopped all exports of cars and motorcycles to Russia and the rest of the Japanese auto industry is expected to follow suit.

CARGO SHIP FULL OF CARS SINKS
We’ve got a quick update on that cargo ship carrying thousands of vehicles that caught fire. It sank. Rescue workers tried to tow the ship to safety but rough seas pushed it under. The boat, which was traveling from Germany to the U.S., had around 4,000 cars on board, including Audis, Bentleys, Lamborghinis and Porsches. The vehicles were worth an estimated $400 million but insurance will cover the damage.

POLESTAR O2 CONCEPT CONVERTIBLE
Polestar is showing off a cool-looking concept, called the O2. It’s a two-door hardtop convertible that features styling inspired by the Precept Concept. So, picture that car with two doors chopped off and a big section sliced out of the roof. It also rides on Polestar’s new bonded aluminum architecture that it revealed last month, which allowed designers to lower the roof line and engineers to improve driving dynamics. Polestar says it plans to introduce 3 new cars over the next three years and each has the potential to feature ideas presented by its concept cars. The first is expected to be a version of the Precept that comes out this year.

SNEAK PEEK OF LINCOLN DIGITAL DASHBOARD
Going back to the beginning of the show, did you catch that brief glimpse of a future dashboard that flashed by in the Ford video? Take a look at this IP. Video screens from A-pillar to A-pillar. And the steering wheel clearly has the Lincoln logo on it. Sure looks to us like it’s going to be the instrument panel on the next gen Lincoln Navigator. And now we’ve got to wonder: is it going to be a BEV?

QUICK GLIMPSE OF FIRST ALL-ELECTRIC JEEP
And going back to the Stellantis story, it gave us a quick tease of Jeep’s first battery electric model, which will launch next year. While it only provided two pictures, it looks to us like it’s based on the Compass. And that would make some sense. There’s already a 4xe or plug-in hybrid version of the Compass and based on when it’s coming out, it would suggest to us that it’s not riding on a new, dedicated BEV platform, because Stellantis hasn’t developed those yet. Jeep says we’ll get more information in the coming months.

And that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in and we’ll be right back here again tomorrow.