Ford has agreed a deal to use VW’s MEB EV platform
56 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 14 AUGUST 2019
Δ challenges but has answers. “We’ve planned the
e nt i r e p or t fol io i n one go,” he s ay s. “ We ’ v e s e le c t e d
a common battery cell for our BEVs and set up
long-term, large-scale relationships with suppliers,
because 75% of a battery’s cost is raw materials.
“It’s vital that every BEV is profitable because
that means you can sell as many as customers
want. If they’re not profitable you hold them back:
why do you think so many of today’s electrics are
subject to year-long waiting lists? We’ll launch, and
w e w on’t lo s e mone y. T h at ’s w h at w i l l m a k e ou r
cars mainstream.”
BEV range, Palmer admits, is something
customers obsess about. Decent range hasn’t been
generally available up to now, partly because of
poor battery density, partly because of cost. But
these things are improving, even if progress is
slowed by rising demand. “A car’s range in miles
b e g i n s w it h a 1, 2 or 3 ,” s ay s Pa l me r. “O u r r e s e a r c h
shows that when it’s a 3 anxiety drops away fast. A
30 0 -plu s c apa bi l it y i s s ome t h i n g w e ’r e a i m i n g at .”
It’s clear Palmer could continue his rapid-fire
a d v o c a c y of e le c t r ic c a r s i nde f i n it e l y, e xc e p t t h at
he has at least 100 other things to do against a
punishing timetable. (He explains, for instance,
how a n E d i s on-le d t e a m r e c e nt l y pr o duc e d a
completely new infotainment system for the
Mustang-based CUV in just 90 days, from plan
to final hardware.) So we content ourselves with
a sk i n g h i m t o c h a r a c t e r i s e t he i mp or t a nc e of t he
current era of car creation.
“It’s the greatest change and opportunity in the
auto industry in 30 years,” he says, “and probably
a lot longer. Today’s performance BEV isn’t just
about the electric motor. It’s about software,
surprises, over-the-air updates, cleverness, the
fact it can learn and anticipate what you want, and
makes your life better. It’s an entirely new kind of
product. Those who try it will never go back.”
Joe Hinrichs: living in the present
WHILE OTHERS HAVE their heads in the future,
Ford’s automotive president, Joe Hinrichs, has
his eyes fixed on current markets, products and
p e r for m a nc e. It ’s a l l v e r y w e l l d r e a m i n g up a
f a bu lou s f ut u r e , but t h at ’s on l y a f ford a ble i f y ou
keep today’s market percolating. Which means
turning profits from what you have, and making
great near-term improvements.
For somebody with ultimate charge of all
aspects of the business – design, manufacturing,
purchasing, product development, quality –H i n r ic h s c ut s a r e m a rk a bl y jau nt y f i g u r e i n h i s
white Ford Performance shirt (“we’re all on the
same team, maybe it helps if I dress accordingly”).
He’s also the guy who regularly sends live, how-
we’re-doing webcasts around the Ford empire, and
he has just the right manner for those.
Ford Performance is close to Hinrichs’ heart.
He owns several GTs of different ages, several
Mustangs of different power levels, an F150 Raptor
and an old Bronco. It’s fun, a description he also
frequently applies to the car business. That’s
understandable: recent margins have been strong
in the US, even if in Europe and South America
they’ve been hit by costs from a “fundamental
redesign of the business” during what president
Hinrichs oversees the
whole business: “We’re
all on the same team”
Jim Hackett labels “this key year of action”.
Hinrichs says Ford Performance has yet to reach
its full potential, given that models like the Focus
ST and Raptor would have happened anyway. The
division was created, he explains, to connect Ford’s
fast car production with its motorsport. The two
organisations are bigger and more inf luential, and
that part has worked. But there’s more to do.
Will there be an all-new Focus RS? A new one
normally appears after the mid-life refresh of a
cooking Focus. This time there’s a lot to thinkabout, says Hinrichs. “The world is changing, and
we have new powertrain options.” I ask if that
means hybridisation but Hinrichs widens this
t o “e le c t r i f ic at ion”, w h ic h m a k e s me t h i n k. T he y
wouldn’t launch a Focus RS BEV, would they?
Hinrichs changes the subject.
One marketing challenge he sees is getting
buyers – both in the US and Europe – to view
Ford’s bu r ge on i n g s e le c t ion of hy br id c a r s a s
normal models. “The Prius set the standard,” he
says, “by being marketed as a different kind of
vehicle. But the job now is to get consumers to see
hybridisation as tried and tested technology, not
a science project but the vehicle they love with a
more efficient powertrain.”