cars news 10: Ford CEO: Hybrid F-Series Truck Will Arrive by 2020

Last year, we heard that Ford was working “very hard” on a hybrid F-150, although the company wouldn’t elaborate on a possible introduction date. In a recent interview with NPR, Ford CEO Mark Fields confirmed the company will introduce a hybrid F-Series truck by 2020.

“Well, we do have plans to have a rear-wheel drive hybrid truck but the end of the decade,” Fields told the radio network. “So yes, we’re working on [an] electrified F-Series, and it’s really around a conventional hybrid.” Fields didn’t specify which F-Series model will receive electrification.

During the first 11 months of the year, Ford sold 695,143 F-Series trucks. The model has been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for over three decades. In comparison, Ford’s C-Max hybrid only sold 20,352 units, down 20.6 percent from the same period a year ago. While Fields concedes that consumers aren’t latching on to electric cars due to falling gas prices, he says the company is looking at the bigger picture.

“Part of our job as a company and as an automotive manufacturer and now as a mobility company, is to think of what the world is going to look like five, 10 and even 15 years from now,” Fields said. “And our view, very simply, is that over time, oil is a nonrenewable resource.”

Note that Fields called Ford a “mobility company,” which highlights yet another major plan the automaker is cooking up for the future. Ford will be the latest automaker to follow in the footsteps of Uber and launch its own ridesharing service. Fields didn’t give a timeline for when we may be hailing a ride from the Blue Oval, but said Ford’s goal revolves around reducing congestion and improving lives.

Read a transcript of the interview HERE.

Source: NPR