July 24, 2013—Ford Motor Company has completed its collaboration with Toyota on a rear-drive hybrid system and plans to move forward on its own to develop the system for pickups and SUVs, according to a recent Ford report.
Ford expects to have the new system on the market by the end of this decade. It will be based on all-new architecture to deliver the capability customers demand while delivering better fuel economy.
“We know what it takes to build world-class hybrids, and we now will build and leverage that expertise in-house,” said Raj Nair, group vice president, global product development. “By continuing to develop a rear-wheel-drive hybrid system on our own, we can extend our advanced hybrid technologies to new vehicle segments and deliver even better fuel economy across our lineup.”
Ford and Toyota will continue to work together on the development of next-generation standards for in-car telematics, back-end support systems for call centers, and Internet-based services. These projects are all designed to bring more Internet-based information to consumers globally.
With 24,217 vehicles sold this quarter, Ford hybrid sales were up 517 percent over last year and up 15 percent over this year’s first quarter.
With six current electrified vehicles on the road, expansion continues as Ford is hiring more than 200 new electrification engineers and growing its research facilities to speed development of hybrid and electrified vehicles.
