Give legacy automaker Ford (F) all the credit in the world; it is clearly planning to die on the “no boring cars” hill. It is putting just about everything it can into producing new and exciting vehicles, and today is no different. In fact, Ford now plans an extended-range plug-in hybrid car that could be a big deal if all goes as planned. Ford investors were not so optimistic, and shares were up fractionally in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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Ford is indeed working on extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) technology, reports noted, with a particular focus on what this could mean for the SUV and pickup truck markets. This is an exciting development, but comes at an odd time; Ford, not so long ago, had plans for an electric three-row SUV, but shut those plans down after finding that the model in question had “no viable path to profitability.”
An EREV works somewhat differently from the hybrids we know today. With an EREV hybrid, the gas engine involved has nothing to do with the drive systems. Rather, it functions as a gasoline-powered generator, producing electrical output for the battery, which recharges on the go and provides extra range accordingly.
Jim Farley: We Need Chinese Battery Tech
Meanwhile, Ford’s CEO, Jim Farley, has once again been caught coveting his neighbor’s intellectual property. While Farley was briefly famous—or perhaps infamous—for tooling around in a Chinese-make EV, it turns out the experience had a greater impact on him than expected.
To that end, Farley is looking to license Chinese battery technology in a bid to add it to his own lineup of electric vehicles, reports note. This is not a surrender to China, Farley asserts, but rather is similar to events of 20 years ago. Farley calls for the United States to “…use our innovative ecosystem and American ingenuity and our great scale and our intimacy with the customer to beat them globally.”
Is Ford Stock a Good Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Hold consensus rating on F stock based on four Buys, eight Holds and three Sells assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 23.87% loss in its share price over the past year, the average F price target of $10.73 per share implies 16.06% upside potential.
