Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, who once told a crowd in Washington he hoped they wouldn’t buy the money-losing Fiat 500e, has changed his tune. Carmakers have less than a decade to reinvent themselves or risk being commoditized, he told Bloomberg News in an exclusive interview.
“We’re all in now,” Executive Chairman Bill Ford told reporters on Sunday after Ford announced it will spend $11 billion to bring 40 electrified vehicles to market by 2022.
Will There Be Buyers?
But for all the planning carmakers are doing to add battery-powered models to their lineups in the years to come, they’re also sweating over whether consumer demand will be there.
“We cannot force them to buy, and we cannot force the government to change,” Nissan Motor Co. President Hiroto Saikawa said in an interview. “What we can do is to properly prepare.”
There still aren’t many electric vehicles to choose from today, Ford’s Farley said. That’s going to change, just as the regulatory environment gets more stringent. “It all points to a market that will be more robust,” Farley said. “But it is not here today. It is a leap of faith.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.