Ford quietly created its own ‘skunkworks’ team to develop low-cost electric vehicles
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Ford created a “skunkworks” lab two years ago with the mission of developing affordable electric vehicles, the company’s CEO said in an earnings call Tuesday. The team is being led by Alan Clarke, who worked at Tesla for 12 years before joining Ford as executive director of advanced EV development, according to TechCrunch.
Ford, like other global automakers, is scrambling to perfect the formula for profitable electric vehicles. The company’s Model e unit, which oversees EVs and software products, reported a loss of $1.6 billion in the last quarter of 2023. Ford said it would slow the pace of money it was spending on EVs in order to better match customer demand.
But the revelation of a skunkworks lab working on low-cost EVs proves that…