US automaker Ford has announced to more than double its investment in electric and autonomous vehicles to $29 billion.
The automaker had formerly dedicated to spending $11.5 billion on electrifying its vehicle lineup through 2022.
"We are now planned to invest at least $22 billion in electrification in the next few years through 2025. And that's just electrification," expressed Ford CEO, James D. Farley.
"We are accelerating our plans right now, breaking constraints, increasing battery capacity, improving our costs, and getting more battery electrics into our cycle plan," he told the investors during the Q4 earnings call.
"When you include the spending on our autonomous driving, our total commitment is at least $29 billion".
The majority of Ford's investment in electrification supports a broadening portfolio of BEVs on platforms from both Ford and coalition partners.
"We now plan to invest at least $7 billion in autonomous vehicles through 2025, including the $2 billion we spent through 2020," added John Lawler, Chief Financial Officer, Ford.
"Our plans include standing up our commercial AV business by 2022 to move both people and goods, and we also believe that Argo AI's self-driving system remains on a shortlist of leaders in the autonomous technology," Lawler informed.
The increased investment is targeted at catching up with the EV market leader Tesla and keep pace with other automakers like GM and Volkswagen.