Cars and Drivers

Ford Faces VW Challenge

Roman Nurutdinov / iStock Editorial via Getty Images

In a recent article at Bloomberg, primarily covering the EV efforts of BMW and Mercedes, the efforts of VW popped up. It is the No.1 car company in the world from time to time, a spot it trades with Toyota. Bloomberg looked at VW’s efforts in the EV market, again, as it tries to “differentiate” from models built by competitors. Many assume that Ford does not have to worry about these German companies. Its only competitor is Tesla. It turns out that is not true.

VW’s revenue is built on its sales in China and Europe. Its brief success in the US came decades ago. It is barely mentioned today as a brand with any presence at all.

Ford’s odds of doing well with its EV models in the US are fairly good, particularly in the full-sized pickup segment, a part of the car industry that includes the top three selling vehicles in America–the F-150, Silverado, and Ram. Ford F-150 Lightning has an early lead in the segment, but beyond this, its only real EV contender is the Mustang Mach-E. Ford has yet to prove it can do well in the SUV and crossover businesses. The company has given up on sedans already, regardless of engine type.

VW’s ID.4 is early into the US market, and the strength of its sales should be evident in less than two years as competition races to build EV market share. VW wants to elbow its way into the EV crossover segment. The ID.5 will likely be more competition for Ford, as will be the balance of EV models from other brands that are in America or will be soon.

Among Ford’s EV challenges is how many models it gets to market and how soon. VW has a strong balance sheet and engineering capacity among the larger companies. It already has a fleet of cars in Europe that will have EV versions now or shortly. Most of those can be added to its lineup in America, will means that the model lineup will be large.

Also read: This is the best-selling car in America.

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