Ford says hybrids, EVs could be a quarter of sales by 2020

In 10 years, one-quarter of Ford Motor Co.'s global sales could be electrified vehicles and hybrids, Derrick Kuzak, Ford's group vice president of global product development, said today at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Kuzak, CEO Alan Mulally, and other Ford executives discussed the automaker's electrification goals and plans this afternoon at the show.

By 2015, Ford plans for hybrid-electric, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to account for 2 to 5 percent of its global sales volume, Kuzak said. By 2020, that will rise to 10 to 25 percent, he said. Hybrids are projected to make up most of those sales.

In 2010, hybrid-electric vehicles made up about 1 percent of Ford's global unit sales.

Ford has electrified vehicles in the works on compact and mid-sized platforms. More electrified vehicles could be built on other platforms, Kuzak said during an earlier media briefing. Ford aims to offer consumers more vehicle choices as the automaker complies with lower carbon dioxide emission requirements, Kuzak said.

Affordable volume

“The real step that needs to be taken on electrification is to make electrified vehicles affordable. One way to make them affordable is to drive volume. That's really the whole basis of our strategy,” Kuzak said. “Our next generation of hybrids will be at an even lower cost.”

Kuzak said Ford set such a wide range -- 10 to 25 percent -- for its 2020 electrified vehicles target because those vehicles still require government subsidies, and the level of future subsidies is unclear. Ford also will watch the impact in China of that country's new energy vehicle policy.

In the short term, Ford will offer five electrified vehicles in the United States by 2012. One of those will be the Focus Electric, which Mulally showed today.

All of Ford's hybrid-electric, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles due by 2012 will be on compact or mid-sized platforms, Kuzak said. He said a quarter of vehicles sold worldwide are those sizes.

Kuzak said Ford's electrified vehicle business model assumes U.S. gasoline prices of $3.50 to $4 per gallon.