Ford is planning to spend an additional US$20 billion (NZ$30.1 billion) on expanding its electrical vehicle (EV) capabilities, Bloomberg News has reported.
That's on top of the US$30 billion CEO Jim Farley has already committed to spending by 2030, a plan dubbed 'Ford Plus' by the world's fourth largest car manufacturer.
People familiar with the plan said the extra money will be spread out over the next five to 10 years and will include the investment necessary to convert its factories to EV manufacturing and away from petrol cars.
The person in charge of the EV push is Doug Field, the former Apple and Tesla employee who engineered the Model 3. Field joined Ford from the Cupertino-based tech giant in September 2021 after leading Project Titan, its self-driving electric car project, since 2018.
Field is Ford's chief advanced technology and embedded systems officer and is in charge of the group overseeing "infotainment, navigation, driver-assist technology, connected services and vehicle cybersecurity" projects, Ford said.
At the time Farley announced he was excited by being able to bring Field back to Ford.
"Doug Field, one of the top product leaders from Apple, Tesla and Segway, is returning to our world-class team," Farley said at the time.
"Thrilled to work with Doug on the next generation of digital vehicles and always-on experiences for our customers that get better and better over time."
Farley has been in charge of Ford for just under 18 months and in that time has accelerated the company's plans for EVs, including significantly increasing the number of Mustang Mach-E cars made.
According to an anonymous source, part of the reorganisation the investment will allow could include spinning off a portion of its EV business, possibly the lower-volume models.
This could allow the company to attract additional investment and allow the company to focus more on mass-market EVs.
Ford wasn't willing to comment on Bloomberg's report.
"We are executing our Ford Plus plan to transform the company and thrive in this new era of electric and connected vehicles," Ford's chief communications officer Mark Truby said in a statement.
"We would not comment on speculation".
