ElSupreme said:
"But I don't think they will. Even A MKS isn't that expensive of a car, it would be hard to jump $30k in base price to a base model. And right now the Model S and Tesla have cachet that Ford could only dream of. Competing directly with the Model S isn't really a great idea right now.
I think you might be making a couple of assumptions that are a bit too simplistic, or at least errantly based on current price premiums. If Ford were to develop a full sized EV based on, for arguments sake, the Fusion/MKZ platform it would undoubtedly take 3-4 years to bring it to market and in the intervening time it is probable that the cost of the battery per KWhr will come down, perhaps by as much as 10-15%. Furthermore, the price of the electric drive will also come down and perhaps by a larger percentage than does the battery. So your $30K EV premium may be only $25K or even a bit less. I’d like to think $20K but that won’t happen in the 3-5 year timeframe, maybe 6-8 years.
And secondly, like the FFE, any MKZ-based EV would undoubtedly be built on a well-equipped variant that would retail in the $40K range bringing the base price of a well equipped MKZ EV variant in the order of $65K. High trim levels are the only way the high costs of an EV variant can be effectively marketed to the general public. Nobody wants to pay a premium price and receive a baseline trim even if they understand the necessity of the EV premium price.
At $65K this EV would still be less expensive than a base Model S and should be sufficiently well equipped to be in a market demographic above the Tesla Model 3 so Ford would still be not be in direct competition with Tesla. It would not be the “breakthrough fully capable EV” that would make the EV “mainstream”, but it would put Ford into a strong position in the mid-priced personal luxury EV market.
The other side of this platform, a long range Fusion EV at a lower trim level could probably be marketed in the $40-45K price range 2-3 years after releasing the MKZ EV variant. That “vapourware Fusion EV” could be a direct competitor to the Tesla Model 3 which most analysts think will be in the $40K range despite Tesla’s current $35K price point goal.
A few thoughts and “guesses” on my part anyway.
Thanks and Cheers
Carl