Ford aims to attract more newcomers to electric vehicles with its three-row electric SUV
Ford’s F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck has attracted a high percentage of customers who have never considered using an electric vehicle before, with EV newcomers making up almost the entire number. 80% of seat holders. And as Ford CEO Jim Farley emphasized this week in a quarterly financial call, it’s still possible to do so again in the near future with other types of vehicles—such as with a sedan. Electric SUV with three rows of seats.
“A lot of new customers have bought Lightning without having owned a pickup before,” says Farley. “And we plan to do that with a three-row crossover and a range of EV Pro vehicles, which we think will be a huge growth spurt for us.”
Ford may be eyeing the form factor of the Ford Explorer, or perhaps the former Ford Flex. An electric version of the mainstay of the US family—not to be confused with a VW .-based model Ford Explorer electric car for Europe was revealed in March—possibly keeping some existing Mach-E owners from switching to another brand for something bigger and electric.
Ford Explorer electric crossover for Europe
“We also found that customers were very loyal to a full EV powertrain after they joined, but they weren’t as loyal to the brand on their first purchase,” adds Farley. “We found that second EV purchases were much more brand-loyal in these mature EV markets.”
Farley emphasized that such future models will see tremendous growth, but that growth needs to be managed.
“In the small and medium utility segment, the two-row electric vehicle market will be very saturated,” said Farley. “In this context to ensure profitable growth, we knew we had to have an attractive, new product with the right cost structure—something we continue to improve with the Mustang Mach-E.”
Ford Mustang Mach-E electric powertrain 2021
Towards those three rows of seats, Farley also noted that Ford has reduced the Mach-E bill of materials by $5,000 per vehicle. That could be one of the significant enabling factors Discounts on the Mustang Mach-E . series again earlier this week.
Ford hasn’t revealed which one yet some future EVs will be built at the Canadian plant in Oakville, Ontario, likely beginning in 2025, but it’s a viable production site for the three-row SUV.
Ford F-150 Lightning 2022 pre-production
During Ford’s most recent quarterly call, Farley revealed that Future Ford EVs will be “radically simplified,” with fewer body styles and “only a handful of combinations that can be ordered”. He also emphasized that this means better quality and lower production costs.
“We want a lot of scale per top hat,” Farley said on this week’s call, again hinting that the company is aiming to avoid niche models. A good example of this is the “SUV coupe” body style that several automakers have introduced to the electric vehicle market.
Such an electric SUV would not be the first to have three rows of seats. It will need to compete with KIA EV9 and, senior, the Rivian R1STesla Model X and Volvo EX90, among others. But if it can get ahead of some of the other products coming to market — as Lightning did — then Ford could make another push.
