Ford Plans to Kill off Cars and Build More Trucks
The future of Ford involves lots of trucks and SUVs. And not much else.
It should come as no surprise that a company like Ford would want to focus its resources on the things that people are buying. And that’s exactly what the automaker plans to do – at all costs. Ford has announced their latest strategic plan, and it involves massive spending cuts. But it also features a redistribution of development funds away from cars and into trucks and SUVs.
Ford’s vision for the future comes on the heels of a four month dive into the company’s operations and strategy by new President and CEO Jim Hackett and Ford’s senior leadership team. First and foremost, Ford plans to reduce overall spending by $14 billion through product engineering cuts and materials savings.
Of particular interest, however, is how they’ll spend the rest of their money. Ford plans to take $7 billion away from car development and place it directly into truck and SUV development. According to the automaker, at least some of that money will go toward the 2019 Ranger, 2020 Bronco, and three other undetermined truck models. One of which will be an EV SUV.
Ford intends to cut a great deal of spending in car development just by simplifying its offerings. That will undoubtedly include the death of some models. But it also means less configurations and standalone options, as demonstrated in the slide above. Which, considering the astounding number of current configurations, might be a good thing for consumers.
Regardless, it makes perfect sense for Ford to focus its efforts (and cash) on the things that people are buying. The car’s decline doesn’t appear to be a temporary trend, and demand figures to weaken indefinitely. All of which is great news for truck fans, who get to reap the benefits of an even more intense focus.
