Ford rethinks hybrid strategy, goes small
Company adds Lincoln Nautilus, drops two hybrid midsize SUVs
Ford is adjusting its hybrid strategy, dropping a pair of midsize SUVs that offered the powertrain in favor of a greater emphasis on smaller SUVs and pickups.
The 2025 Explorer midsize SUV will no longer offer a hybrid powertrain to retail customers. Lincoln is dropping the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) version of the Aviator. Ford builds both midsize SUVs in its Chicago assembly plant. Lincoln identified the PHEV Aviator with its Grand Touring trim level.
Police vehicles are big business for Ford, which has prioritized them in development and sales for decades.
Ford will continue to make hybrid versions of the Explorer police vehicle. The hybrid accounts for a greater share of police sales than the civilian model. That’s because police vehicles spend an inordinate amount of time idling, and the hybrid can maintain climate control and without running the engine, releasing emissions and using expensive gasoline.
The Explorer and Aviator hybrids “just didn’t get enough traction with customers” for personal-use vehicles, IHS Global Mobility analyst Stephanie Brinley said. “Why isn’t exactly clear.”
Hybrid and PHEV systems are more complicated and costly than a stand-alone internal combustion engine, but they reduce fuel costs. According to EPA estimates, the annual fuel cost for a 2023 Explorer hybrid is $250 lower than the most frugal gasoline-only model.
That adds up for police departments running hundreds of vehicles running 24/7 for years, but the feature didn’t catch on with individual buyers.
The hybrids accounted for a minimal slice of total sales. Hybrid Explorers were less than 5% of 2023 sales, while PHEV — a more expensive system, but offered in a luxury vehicle — were below 15%. Hybrid Explorers account for a larger share of police sales.
Build what they’re buying
Ford will continue to offer hybrids — and add new models — in market segments where demand is stronger, particularly pickups and smaller SUVs.
“We’re increasing our hybrid offerings where consumers want them,” Ford spokesperson Mike Levine said.
When it comes to personal-use vehicles from the Ford and Lincoln brands, that means compact and midsize SUVs and pickups.
Ford will expand the number of F-150 pickup models that offer a hybrid this year. A 2024 F-150 hybrid costs $300 less a year to fuel than the corresponding gasoline model.
Ford hybrids vs. gasoline fuel costs
2024 Ford F-150
4WD hybrid: $2,150, 23 mpg combined city highway fuel economy
4WD 2.7L gasoline: $2,450, 20 mpg combined city highway fuel economy
2024 Ford Escape
AWD hybrid compact SUV: $1,250, 39 mpg combined city highway fuel economy
FWD 1.5L gasoline compact SUV: $1,650, 30 mpg combined city highway fuel economy
2024 Lincoln Nautilus
AWD hybrid midsize SUV: $1,650, 33 mpg city/ highway
AWD 2.0L gasoline midsize SUV: $2,050, 24 mpg city/highway
Source: www.fueleconomy.com
New 2024 Lincoln Nautilus hybrid on sale now
“We’re going to the segments with the greatest demand for hybrids,” Levine said.
That includes compact pickups, a long-dormant market segment Ford revived in 2021 with the Maverick pickup. Ford’s struggled to meet demand for the base Maverick, a hybrid that starts at $23,500 — $24,995 with destination charge — and scored 37 mpg in combined city/highway EPA tests, good for a $1,350 annual gasoline bill.
Lincoln sells a plug-in hybrid version of the compact Corsair SUV. The EPA rates it at 27 miles range on electricity alone and 33 mpg when using its gasoline engine and hybrid system for an annual cost of $1,200 for electricity and gasoline.
“We’re focusing on volume vehicles for hybrids, the Corsair PHEV and Nautilus hybrid,” Lincoln spokesperson Anika Salceda-Wycoco said.
The hybrid version of Lincoln’s new 2024 Nautilus just went on sale. It scored EPA estimates of 30 mpg city/highway and $1,650 a year for gasoline.
“There’s still demand and opportunities for Ford to grow its hybrid and PHEV sales, but it wasn’t worth Ford’s time to maintain the Explorer and Aviator hybrids,” S&P’s Brinley said.