Ford: Gas cars are a growth business

Except it’s not dying, said Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue, Ford’s internal combustion vehicle division. On the contrary, he said, it’s booming.”For someone who might be nursing, I’m spending a lot of my time and investment expanding [production] capacity for all of our Ford Blue vehicles,” told CNN Business. “So, to me, Ford Blue is a growth story.”Basically, by keeping a foot firmly in the internal combustion world, Ford is benefiting from customers who are losing access to gas-powered vehicles from other automakers even while Ford, itself, rolls out new EV models.]Ford just unveiled a new Mustang coupe that, notably, is not electric or even hybrid. The new two-door Ford Mustang was able to remain all-gas-powered, Ford executives said, because the company is meeting its emissions goals with the help of electric vehicles, like the Mustang Mach-E SUV, and plug-in hybrids like the Ford Escape PHEV. (Hybrids are also included in Galhotra’s Ford Blue division.) But there remains a market for internal combustion-powered performance, and Ford decided to serve the customers who still want that, Galhotra said. Meanwhile, Stellantis has announced it will A majority of customers for both the Bronco and the smaller Bronco Sport are new to Ford, he said. About 60% of Ford Bronco buyers have not recently owned a Ford. That’s close to so-called “conquest rates” for Ford’s electric vehicles like the Mustang Mach-E and Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck. But Ford has sold over 75,000 Broncos and over 71,000 Bronco Sports in the first eight months of 2022 compared to about 26,000 Mustang Mach-Es. Similarly, Ford has sold almost 50,000 Mavericks and a majority of buyers for that small truck also new to Ford.To keep sales growing, Galhotra said Ford can keep expending and stretching its various model lines. Bronco is already a family of models, including the full-sized Bronco SUV and smaller Bronco Sport. Each also has a variety of special editions like Heritage models. Ford has successfully used a similar strategy with Mustang, creating seemingly endless variants, from the $27,000 4-cylinder Ecoboost Mustang to the $80,000 760-horsepower Shelby GT 500.”I see the potential for Maverick to, someday, become a family,” he said wha.Clearly, at some point, gasoline-powered vehicles will be phased out, Galhotra allowed. But it’s not all clear when that will be and, as other automakers shift towards only offering electric vehicles, Ford has the chance to pick up sales from drivers not ready to make the switch, Galhotra said. At the same time, of course, Ford will also offer electric vehicle options for those who are ready, he said.