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Ford Model e unit announces massive expansion of EV initiative in Europe: 7 new EVs by 2024
Ford’s electric vehicle unit — known as Model e — announced today that it would take massive steps to expand its electric vehicle project in Europe. Ford, which recently split its electric vehicle and combustion engine businesses into two divisions, is aiming to roll out seven new electric vehicles in Europe by 2024 with an annual production capacity of 600,000 vehicles by 2026.
Ford announced the expansion plan today, recognizing the accelerating pace of electrification in the European market. “I am delighted to see the pace of change in Europe – challenging our entire industry to build better, cleaner, and more digital vehicles. Ford is all-in and moving fast to meet the demand in Europe and around the globe,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “This is why we have created Ford Model e – allowing us to move at the speed of a start-up to build electric vehicles that delight and offer connected services unique to Ford and that are built with Ford-grade engineering and safety.”
Ford’s Model e division aims to take advantage of a Tesla-like business model that completely separates the electric vehicle projects from the traditional combustion engine powertrains that Ford built its legacy on. As one of the most-committed legacy automakers in the transition to electrification, Ford recently announced it would commit to a production goal of 600,000 EVs by the end of 2023.
In Europe, electric vehicles have become extremely popular, becoming a more common choice of consumers than combustion engine vehicles in some regions. Ford is turning some focus toward this market as it is likely to be one of the biggest catalysts to EV sales company-wide. Ford said it expects annual sales in Europe to exceed 600,000 units in 2026, reaffirming its intention to deliver a 6 percent EBIT margin in Europe in 2023.
“Our march toward an all-electric future is an absolute necessity for Ford to meet the mobility needs of customers across a transforming Europe,” Ford of Europe Chairman Stuart Rowley said. “It’s also about the pressing need for greater care of our planet, making a positive contribution to society and reducing emissions in line with the Paris Climate Agreement.”
Seven New EVs by 2024
With the Mustang Mach-E already having a successful introduction into the European market, Ford will also welcome the E-Transit to the region in Q2 2022. By 2024, Ford plans to introduce seven additional models to its electric lineup in Europe. It will include three new passenger vehicles and four new commercial cars.
In 2023, Ford will begin production of an all-new passenger EV. The company says it will be a “medium-sized crossover, built in Cologne with a second electric vehicle added to the Cologne production line-up in 2024.” Ford will also introduce an electric version of the Ford Puma. It will be produced in Craiova, Romania, starting in 2024.
Ford, which recently split its electric vehicle and combustion engine businesses into two divisions, is aiming to roll out seven new electric vehicles in Europe by 2026 with an annual production capacity of 600,000 vehicles. (Credit: Ford)
Ford is Europe’s top-selling commercial vehicle brand, and the company plans to introduce several new electric models of its Transit van — “the all-new Transit Custom one-tonne van and Tourneo Custom multi-purpose vehicle in 2023, and the smaller, next-generation Transit Courier van and Tourneo Courier multi-purpose vehicle in 2024.”
“These new Ford electric vehicles signal what is nothing less than the total transformation of our brand in Europe – a new generation of zero-emission vehicles, optimized for a connected world, offering our customers truly outstanding user experiences,” Rowley added.
Ford’s Cologne, Germany EV Hotspot
Ford also said that the first all-electric passenger vehicle to come out of the new Electrification Centre in Cologne will be a five-seat, medium-sized crossover. Crossovers are a widely popular body style and accounted for 58 percent of all Ford passenger vehicles sold in Europe in 2021. Ford plans to unveil the name and design of the new crossover in 2022. Production will begin in 2023.
Ford’s Cologne Electrification Center (Credit: Ford)
Additionally, Ford said its total investment in Cologne is expected to be $2 billion with the investment including plans for a new battery assembly facility that will begin production in 2024. The automaker projects at least 1.2 million vehicles produced at the Cologne Electrification Centre by 2030.
New battery partnership with SK On Co., Ltd., and Koç Holding
Ford announced that it also signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding for a new, industry-leading joint venture in Turkey with battery manufacturers SK On Co., Ltd. and Koç Holding. The plant will be located near Ankara, the country’s capital, and will manufacture high-Nickel Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt (NMC) cells for assembly into battery array modules. Nickel cells have been a focus of many large automakers transitioning to electric cars, as it is widely available. However, surging prices of the metal have contributed to a potential delay in these plans, at least in the short term.
Production is expected to start as early as mid-decade, Ford said, with annual capacity likely to be between 30 and 45 Gigawatt hours.
Ford said the investment will also be supported by the Turkish Government and will benefit large and small commercial vehicle operators across Europe, all while decreasing CO2 emissions.
EV Production Boost in Romania
Ford will also introduce an electric version of its best-selling European vehicle, the Puma. European customers will be able to purchase an all-electric version of the vehicle in 2024. Additionally, the Transit Courier and Tourneo Courio will be produced a the plant in 2023, with all-electric versions being offered the following year.
Ford’s joint venture with Koç Holding, known as Ford Otosan, will assume ownership of the Craiova, Romania plant. “We welcome this opportunity to grow our joint venture with Koc Holding and leverage this strategic partnership to better utilize our resources and know-how in Romania,” Rowley said. “Ford Craiova is today a strong success story, and we believe that through Ford Otosan’s experience and expertise in electrification and commercial vehicles it can reach even higher levels of achievement.”
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Tesla Cybercab stands to gain from new rules that the Trump Administration is aiming to enforce on autonomous vehicles. On Thursday, NHTSA, under the Trump Administration’s U.S. Department of Transportation, commenced rulemaking on the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).
This effort aims to eliminate the mandate for manual brake pedals in vehicles that are designed to be driven exclusively by automated driving systems. This would impact the Tesla Cybercab, which the company has stated would operate without a steering wheel or pedals.
Tesla Cybercab launch is imminent after latest sighting at Giga Texas
The Trump Administration is looking to revise FMVSS No. 135, which requires standard braking systems on light-duty vehicles.
Currently, the regulation requires light-duty cars to use traditional manual braking systems that allow operators to slow the vehicle. With the advent of self-driving in the U.S., these regulations need updating, and these are the changes that could come to FMVSS No. 135:
- Removes requirements for hand- or foot-operated brake controls for vehicles designed never to be operated by a human. Existing rules still apply to AVs that retain manual controls.
- All subject vehicles must still meet the same stopping distance performance criteria via alternative testing procedures.
- While this update ensures AVs can physically stop when commanded, NHTSA is separately developing safety performance requirements for AVs in real-world driving scenarios.
- NHTSA will continue to use its broad defect enforcement authority to investigate unsafe ADS behavior and oversee recalls.
As autonomy becomes a greater part of passenger travel, these types of rule adjustments will be more than reasonable. It will give manufacturers the ability to self-certify their vehicles and avoid any red tape that could ultimately delay the deployment of these vehicles.
Administrators are also incredibly excited about the opportunity to play a role in the advancement of self-driving vehicles.
“We are at the cusp of the greatest technological revolution in vehicle technology since the innovation of the Model T,” NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison said. “If we want America to lead the way, we have to reimagine our regulatory framework. That’s why under Secretary Sean Duffy’s AV Framework, NHTSA is tearing down pointless barriers to innovative designs while strengthening the fundamental safety requirements that matter and holding AV developers accountable for safe performance.”
The Cybercab entered mass production at Gigafactory Texas in April. Tesla ultimately plans to push the vehicle into its Robotaxi fleet, potentially when frameworks like these are established.
Tesla plans to boost production at its Gigafactory Berlin plant in Germany following a sharp rebound in sales and demand in Europe after a softer 2025.
The plans put Tesla in a better position to compete with strengthening companies in Europe and potentially other markets; demand indicators show Tesla is much better off than in 2025.
Last year was a tough year for Tesla in terms of overall demand in Europe. The company produced over 200,000 vehicles at the German plant last year, a soft figure compared to the 375,000 vehicles Tesla lists as its current capacity at the factory.
🚨 Tesla said this morning it will ramp up production at Gigafactory Berlin to a volume of 7,500 vehicles per week.
This is a 20 percent boost in production. Tesla will hire 1,000 new employees to help with the increase.$TSLA pic.twitter.com/kravKfRO5n
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 25, 2026
Tesla’s overall European sales dropped significantly last year due to a variety of factors. However, sales are rebounding, and demand is strong once again, and only getting stronger. Tesla is now planning to bump production of Model Y vehicles at Giga Berlin upward by about 20 percent. It will also bring 1,000 new jobs to the plant.
Tesla confirmed the details of its planned production expansion in Germany this morning. It is a strategy to keep up with strengthening demand.
In Q1, Tesla saw a record 61,000 vehicles produced at Giga Berlin. European registrations rebounded sharply, with Model Y seeing 117 percent increases in March 2026 compared to last year. Germany alone saw stark increases, with a quadrupling in registrations to 9,252 units.
This trend continued in other key European markets, including France, Denmark and Sweden. Tesla registrations were up over 46 percent in some of these markets, and Model Y continued its trend as a top BEV in the market.
Demand has been recovering strongly in 2026, giving Tesla a reason to expand production efforts at the factory. These increases signal management’s confidence in sustained or growing European pull for Berlin-built vehicles.
Tesla is being sued by the family of the woman who was killed in a Texas crash involving a Model 3. The driver, who is also being sued, claimed the vehicle was operating on Autopilot mode, but Tesla executives have come out challenging that claim, stating that the driver of the vehicle overrode the system.
The lawsuit was filed by 76-year-old Martha Avila’s daughter and her husband, who allege a “design defect” involving a Tesla and a failure to warn. The suit alleges negligence against Tesla and the driver, Michael Butler.
Butler “stated he was operating with an automated driving assistance system engaged at the time of the crash,” the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. He showed no signs of intoxication and was cooperative, the Sheriff’s Office said, according to NBC News.
Just after reports of the crash and numerous headlines that immediately blamed Tesla’s Autopilot suite, both Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Head of AI Ashok Elluswamy challenged that. Musk said the crash made “no sense” given that Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving do not travel at the speeds the door cameras captured the car traveling at, which Tesla says was 73 MPH.
Tesla finally clarifies fatal Texas crash, confirms driver manually overrode acceleration
Elluswamy also revealed that Tesla data showed Butler overrode the system by pressing the accelerator to 100%, and that the pedal was compressed fully even after the car had crashed. Tesla has not released this data to the public, likely because it is communicating with agencies like the NHTSA on an investigation.
The suit uses a Washington Post analysis of government data that “identified at least 17 fatal incidents linked to Tesla Autopilot.”
This is far from the first time an accident has been blamed on Autopilot. A fatal crash in Texas was blamed on Autopilot several years ago, but when Tesla released data to the NTSB, which was investigating the crash, Autopilot was not available where the crash occurred, and Autosteer was never enabled, meaning the car was manually controlled at the time of the accident.
“Application of the accelerator pedal was found to be as high as 98.8 percent,” the NTSB said in their findings. The highest recorded speed in the five seconds leading up to the impact was 67 miles per hour. The area where the crash occurred is residential, and Texas State laws… pic.twitter.com/XGD97NHVZ2
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 18, 2026
More information on the accident will be released as Tesla works with agencies to find the cause of the crash. From personal experience, it is hard to imagine Tesla Autopilot or FSD operating in this manner. It drives sometimes too cautiously in residential areas in parking lots, at least in my experience. Speeding happens, but at this rate in this type of area, it is hard to believe.
We look forward to more details being released with time.
Tesla Cybercab stands to gain from new Trump autonomy rules
Tesla plans production boost at Giga Berlin following rebound in Europe
