Ford Shares Rise As It Announces Plans To Separate Its ICE And EV Segments

It may not be the spin-off that Wall Street was hoping for, but Ford is slated to announce that it is going to undergo a re-organization wherein it will separate its internal combustion engine (ICE) segments and its EV segments. 

Ford shares are up about 4% heading into the open on Wednesday. 

The move is to help "fast track" the company's growth in EVs, the company said on Wednesday. The divisions will have separate names, but will both be part of Ford, according to Reuters. Ford is planning on naming executives t0 lead each portion of the business individually, the report says. 

Eventually, the company will separate financial results for the two businesses. 

Ford spokesman T.R. Reid told Reuters: "We're focused on carrying out our Ford+ plan to transform the company and thrive in this new era of electric and connected vehicles."

Chief Executive Jim Farley last week addressed rumors of an EV spin-off, stating: "We know our competition is Nio and Tesla, and we have to beat them, not match them. And we also have to beat the best of the ICE players."

He continued, stating about the company's ICE business last week: "We have too many people, we have too much investment, we have too much complexity and we don't have expertise in transitioning our assets. That's the simple answer. There's waste."

“We are going all in, creating separate but complementary businesses that give us start-up speed and unbridled innovation,” he said Wednesday. The company now plans on producing "2 million electric vehicles annually by 2026, building on its plan to manufacture 600,000 plug-in models a year by 2024," Bloomberg reported. 

Investors have hoped that a spin-off could unlock the same absurd valuation that many other EV makers, like Lucid, Tesla and Rivian, have been afforded over the past year.

The separation could wind up being in preparation for an eventual spin-off, but the company has yet to comment on such plans, should they exist. 

By Zerohedge.com

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