Ford is gearing up for the future with a new strategic plan, and that means massive overall spending cuts and, on top of that, redistributing development funds from cars to much more profitable trucks and SUVs. That means, basically, that some Ford nameplates like the Fiesta and Focus nameplates might be retired.
The overall reduction in spending is about USD14 billion to USD4 billion of which will be product engineering cuts, and USD10 billion of which will be materials savings. That’s because Ford has decided its 6% margins aren’t enough to sustain itself. It wants at least 8% margins, and also to invest properly in autonomy and electrification (including the EV-focused Team Edison group, of which there are few details at the moment).
In addition, Ford will take out USD7 billion from car development to fund truck and SUV development, including the next generation Ranger and 2020 Bronco and three other trucks to be determined later. One of which, Ford claims, will be an all new EV SUV.
