Ford Business Transformation With Electric Vehicles
Table of Contents
- Ford History
- Henry Ford’s First Car
- Ford Electric Vehicles Transformation
- Ford Mustang Mach E-Electric SUV
- Ford Lightning Electric Truck
Ford History
- Ford Motor Company is an American car manufacturer operating in Dearborn, Michigan. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells cars and commercial vehicles under the Ford brand and luxury cars under its luxury brand Lincoln.
- Ford to bring electric zero-emission vehicles at scale to American customers with the largest, most advanced, most efficient auto production complex in its 118-year history
- Called BlueOval City, the complex will be constructed on a nearly 6-square-mile site in west Tennessee and build next-generation electric F-Series pickups and advanced batteries
- Moreover, a new BlueOval SK Battery Park is to be built in central Kentucky consisting of twin battery plants that will power a new lineup of Ford and Lincoln EVs
- Ford and SK Innovation plan to invest $11.4 billion and create nearly 11,000 new jobs – close to 6,000 in Stanton, Tennessee, and 5,000 in Glendale, Kentucky; production of the new electric vehicles and advanced lithium-ion batteries will begin in 2025
- Three new BlueOval SK battery plants – two in Kentucky and one in Tennessee – will enable 129 gigawatt hours a year of U.S. production capacity for Ford
- These investments build on Ford’s recent announcements that it will work with Redwood Materials on closed-loop domestic battery recycling and make a new investment to increase production of the F-150 Lightning pickup in Dearborn, Michigan, starting next year
- Ford is investing $90 million in Texas – $525 million total in the U.S. to train skilled technicians to service connected, electric zero-emission vehicles
Henry Ford’s First Car
Henry Ford was thirty-six when a diminutive outfit grandly called the Detroit Automobile Company was founded to manufacture motor cars in the city. The first venture of its kind in Detroit, it had a paid-up capital of $15,000, with Ford himself getting his shares free.
Starting as a semi-literate farm boy from Wayne County, Michigan, he had put himself through an engineering apprenticeship in a succession of jobs. At one stage, aged eighteen, he worked a sixty-two-hour week in a machine shop, while, to earn a bit extra, repairing watches in a jewellery store six nights a week as well. Later he travelled around Michigan farms servicing Westinghouse steam engines.
Ford went to work for Edison in 1891. In his spare time at the plant, he joined the ranks of thousands of other hopeful mechanics, inventors, dabblers and dreamers who were busy trying to put automobiles together in their backyards.
Ford finished building his, which he called the Quadricycle, in a brick shed behind his Detroit apartment, at 1.30 am on a June morning in 1896. With a two-cylinder petrol engine, a bicycle seat, a wooden chassis and bicycle tyres on its spindly wheels, it was steered by a tiller and had a house bell as a horn.
It weighed only 500 pounds and had a top speed above 20mph, though rival machines rarely exceed 5mph.
It was already clear that reliability would be a key factor in a successful car
Ford Electric Vehicles Transformation
Ford will lead the way in America’s transition to electric vehicles with a new mega campus called Blue Oval City in Tennessee and twin battery plants in Kentucky; $11.4 billion investment will create 11,000 jobs and power a new lineup of advanced EVS.
- Ford will supply electrified zero-emission automobiles to American customers on a big scale, thanks to the largest, most modern, and most efficient car production complex in the company’s 118-year history
- The BlueOval City complex, which will be built on a nearly 6-square-mile site in west Tennessee, will build next-generation electric F-Series trucks and upgraded batteries
- Furthermore, a new BlueOval SK Battery Park will be built in central Kentucky, with twin battery factories that will power a new Ford and Lincoln electric vehicle portfolio
- In Stanton, Tennessee, and Glendale, Kentucky, respectively, Ford and SK Innovation intend to invest $11.4 billion and create nearly 11,000 new jobs. In 2025, the production of new electric vehicles and advanced lithium-ion batteries will commence
- Three new BlueOval SK battery factories, two in Kentucky and one in Tennessee will provide Ford with 129-gigawatt hours of annual production capacity in the United States
- Ford recently announced that it will partner with Redwood Materials on closed-loop domestic battery recycling and invest in a new plant in Dearborn, Michigan, to boost production of the F-150 Lightning pickup beginning next year
- Ford is spending $90 million in Texas, a total of $525 million in the United States to train competent technicians to service-connected, zero-emission vehicles.
Ford Motor Company has announced the opening of two new massive, environmentally and technologically advanced manufacturing facilities in Tennessee and Kentucky, which will produce the next generation of electric F-Series trucks as well as the batteries that will power future electric Ford and Lincoln vehicles.
Ford plans to invest $11.4 billion and generate roughly 11,000 new jobs at its Tennessee and Kentucky mega-sites, bolstering local communities and bolstering Ford’s status as America’s greatest employer of hourly autoworkers.
Ford Mustang Mach E-Electric SUV
The Ford Mustang-E is a battery electric compact crossover SUV produced by Ford. The vehicle was introduced on November 17, 2019, and went on sale in December 2020 as a 2021 model. The vehicle used the Mustang nameplate, with a Mach-E moniker which is inspired by the Mach 1 variant of the first-generation Mustang. The car won the 2021 North American SUV of the Year Award.
Electric Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles developed by Ford. In continuous production since 1964, the Mustang is currently the longest-manufactured Ford car nameplate. Currently, in its sixth generation, it is the fifth best-selling Ford car nameplate. Named the “Pony Car” automobile segment, the Mustang was developed as a high-end line of sporty coupes and convertibles derived from existing model lines, initially called the “long hood, short deck”. Was distinguished by proportion.
Originally forecast to sell 100,000 vehicles a year, the 1965 Mustang became the most successful car launch since the 1927 Model A. One million Mustangs sold out within two years of launch. In August 2018, Ford developed the 10 millionth Mustang. Similar to the first 1965 Mustang, the car was a 2019 Wimbledon White convertible with a V8 engine.
Ford Lightining Electric Truck
When Linda Zhang took over as head engineer for Ford’s F-150 Lightning three years ago, she embarked on a nearly impossible task. She had to release a moderately priced electric version of the most popular vehicle in the United States in a short amount of time, all while avoiding the sensibilities of F-150 aficionados, whose mindset may be summed up in country-rap artist Breland’s popular refrain: “Don’t touch my truck.” Zhang, a 25-year Ford engineer, says she was “really super delighted” about the opportunity. “The possibility of being able to go down more technologically advanced paths and provide some shock and awe to our customers… in a good way.”
- The Ford F-150 pickup truck has been the best-selling vehicle in the US since 1981.
- In 2019, nearly 900,000 F-Series trucks rolled off dealer lots in America.
- The F-150 underwent a risky redesign for the 13th generation of the vehicle — arguably the riskiest since the truck first arrived in 1947. Ford engineered the pickup with more lightweight aluminium.
Before the pandemic, car manufacturers were already experiencing major disruptions, including non-motorized vehicles, electric vehicles, and joint ventures. But COVID-19 has brought another blow as the car is one of the most affected industries by 2020, particularly in the United States, where car sales have dropped by 15%.
As the virus accelerated, retailers were forced to close their collections and switch to car repair and sale online, while major supply chain issues have led to shortages of essential nutrients such as microchips, which has reduced car production.
However, in the face of unprecedented challenges, the 118-year-old Ford Motor Company progressed and began to re-establish itself. Under the leadership of two new executives Jim Farley as CEO and Suzy Deering as Global Chief Marketing Officer, the company saw business transformation opportunities and began developing strategies.
Ford has questioned everything from organizational planning to customer experience and made the difficult decision to put technology at the center of their business and stay ahead of the changing needs of car buyers.
Although in the early stages of its journey, Ford has already developed plans for future vehicles. Recently, Farley and Deering shared three important changes that concern them.
- Reimagining What Auto Brands Do
Business transformation has been a buzzword topic for decades, but for many years this has not been the immediate reality for Ford. An epidemic ensued, and its significance grew.
“The events of 2020 clearly show that to be a sustainable company, it is important to be modern,” Farley explained. An important aspect of modernization is disrupting its organizational model to help switch to automotive electronics and other digital-connected products. As consumers expect car manufacturers to offer more safety and comfort, the future of the automotive industry will be greatly expanded outside the car door.
According to Farley, this requires Ford to “withdraw” its organization to allow for a new way of existence. “For us, the biggest change is being a company and a product dominated by software resources,” he explained. “We need to invest in power generation and build software technology within the company. We need to integrate these technologies in a way we have never seen before.”
Deering acknowledges that such a basic fulcrum will affect corporate culture. “We have to make sure we bring people to us, and at the same time, give them a place to fail. Knowing that change is not easy, it is powerful, but we will do it together, and look forward.”
- Driving the Connected Car Experience Forward
With a commitment to looking forward, the car manufacturer built on Henry Ford’s original idea (that every American buyer can own a car) by rethinking what car ownership looks like. With software and other technologies, Ford is working hard to ensure a fully connected, end-to-end experience.
“Cars have long been cut off from people’s lives. We can change this situation by making digital products,” Farley explained. To facilitate this change, Ford has partnered with strategic partners such as Google and integrated software in its vehicles. For example, from 2023, millions of Ford and Lincoln models will use an Android operating system with Google apps and built-in services.
In addition to providing additional assistance and comfort to drivers, connected vehicles allow Ford to deepen its relationships with customers. “If we can use software to improve our products, customer relationships are no longer possible. It happens every day,” Farley said.
- Transforming the Customer Relationship Model
To deliver its vision of customer satisfaction regularly, Ford has also improved the way it builds relationships. While many car manufacturers insist on adopting a traditional adoption model to attract consumers through advertising and discounts, Ford is pushing customer relationships forward by switching to a loyalty-based model.
“As a company and industry, one of the biggest changes for us is to stop our winning streak and start offering all our resources to care for customers who already love the product and who own the product,” explains Farley. “This model is useful because the numbers are always online. Our products and services are now integrated.”
Adjusting the marketing efforts in a personal way to meet the ongoing needs of the people is important to Ford’s loyalty campaign because, as Deering points out, “the customers want us to know them.”
For Deering and her team, this means relying more on corporate data and signals than ever before to create an ecosystem that promotes deeper relationships. “We want to fully understand our customers so that they can meet their needs in the car, outside the car, even before we consider buying a car from us,” he explained.
Although Deering and Farley both quickly agree that Ford’s business transformation is a journey that will take several years, they are committed to fighting a long-term war and continue to promote brand love and loyalty in the 21st century.
Deepak Wadhwani has over 20 years experience in software/wireless technologies. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies including Intuit, ESRI, Qualcomm, Sprint, Verizon, Vodafone, Nortel, Microsoft and Oracle in over 60 countries. Deepak has worked on Internet marketing projects in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange Country, Denver, Nashville, Kansas City, New York, San Francisco and Huntsville. Deepak has been a founder of technology Startups for one of the first Cityguides, yellow pages online and web based enterprise solutions. He is an internet marketing and technology expert & co-founder for a San Diego Internet marketing company.
