Ford’s Product Chief: EVs Will Be Profitable

Hau Thai-Tang, who heads Ford Motor Co.’s product planning, vows that the company’s electric vehicles will be profitable—but he doesn’t say when.

Thai-Tang tells a conference in Detroit that Ford’s EVs will be expected to justify their demand on the carmaker’s capital spending budget. “This is not a strategic action to make people feel good,” he declares.

Audi AG Chief Financial Officer Alexander Seitz made the same declaration yesterday in Abu Dhabi. He says sharing platforms with Volkswagen AG sibling Porsche will cut capital spending on EVs for the two brands by 30%. He says Audi expects its EVs eventually will have the same profitability as a well-equipped diesel. But he, too, didn’t say when that goal would be reached.

Ford dropped its first all-electric car, a variant of the Focus small sedan, last year. That model, which had a meager 100-mile range, will be succeeded in 2020 by a car inspired by the Mustang sport coupe and built to run 300 miles per charge.

Ford has said it will spend $11 billion by 2022 to launch a lineup of 24 hybrid and 16 all-electric models.