Ford may opt to stop production of its own engines and transmissions sometime in the future, per recent comments made by company Vice Chair John Lawler.
As covered by our sister publication, Ford Authority, and initially reported by Automotive News, Lawler recently addressed industry-wide efforts to reduce costs at the 2025 Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, hinting that in order to offer both internal combustion and all-electric models, one way to save money is to outsource powertrain production.
“I think powertrains – ICE powertrains over time are going to need to consolidate, and they’re not going to be differentiated,” Lawler said. “I don’t think that consumers really think about powertrains the way they did 30 years ago, where it defined what a vehicle was, the horsepower, the displacement, the torque and everything about the vehicle, I think a lot of that is gone. And so does everybody need to develop the next 4-cylinder and 6- cylinder as that arc comes?”
Of course, sharing development costs between automakers isn’t exactly a new idea. In Europe, Ford already offers a Volkswagen powertrain in the Transit Connect, tossing in a few EcoBoost and EcoBlue badges on top. Ford also leverages Volkswagen’s MEB electric vehicle platform for some of its EVs, including the Explorer and Capri. Meanwhile, Ford produces various VW models using Blue Oval-brand platforms and engines, such as the Amarok, which is based on the Ranger, and Transporter, which is based on the Transit Custom.
While the Blue Oval brand has nothing official on the books quite yet, Lawler’s comments appear to hint at the company’s long-term plan to share development work with other automakers in order to reduce costs. For now, the company will continue to produce its own EcoBoost and V8 engines, along with its eight-speed and 10-speed transmissions, all of which fall under the purview of the latest UAW labor agreement.
Of course, GM is likely considering similar measures, and has a long track record of sharing development costs and other “badge engineering” efforts. With customer demand shifting and government support for EVs waning following some very pricey investments, it’ll be interesting to see where the industry heads next.
Comments
Guess they can just get rid of “BRANDS” and just call them The Car. Paint them all black with black interior. You just go to The Dealer and buy one.
Just like in the DDR – after waiting 10 years to buy your Trabant!
Ideas like this will mean the death of cars as we have known them. They will become soulless pieces of transportation
but they are already soulless, see the parking lot at supermarket there is no elegance
You haven’t seen me roll up in my V8 powered Nissan Armanda in Super Black, then.
Or my 2024 Eray
Just about there now, look at what GM builds, five different sizes of boring mom mobiles. Their trucks are still cool and of course Corvettes and a few Caddy sedans.
They’ve been soulless transportation for the largest majority of buyers for a long time already.
Boring sells. Look at GM’s best selling non-truck. It’s the ICE Equinox. It doesn’t get much more soulless than that.
Look at the list of other vehicles in the top 25.
RAV4, Camry, Civic, Rogue, CH-R, etc.
People mostly just want reliable, affordable, basic transportation.
Total baloney. It’s just that Ford has had troubles building reliable ones for, oh, over 30 years.
I had a beautiful 1978 forest green country squire. Problem was the 400 ci engine was crap. Last Ford I bought. I still hear about poor gas mpg from many of their engines.
The Karenization of America continues.
Emasculation Feminization Pussification to add a few more
Stop attaching masculinity or femininity to cars. They’re inanimate objects.
And yet, many people are attracted to certain characteristics of the cars when buying.
Ok, soulless one.
Agreed. There’s nothing feminine about a muscle car or a semi, yet both are “she”.
Just sell Ford to VW now, and be done with it. Ford leadership acknowledging they no longer have the resources or creativity to differentiate their products from the competition. Excuses for expensive, ill-advised decisions to build EV’s customers won’t buy.
Would have to be the other way. Ford has more cash than VW right now and while the German GOV would normally pull some money out a their butt to encourage VW expansion, they’re cash strapped too right now.
Oh ok Lawler. Looks like Hacketts legacy of how to destroy a car company faster than the Ford Pinto can by running it like a laundry detergent manufacturer lives on in you. I can assure you people most definitely care about powertrains ESPECIALLY Ford customers. But you do your thing and find out the hard way when, once again, people ditch Ford for the Japanese and Korean brands who are either not entertaining this self-assumed nonsense or maintaining variety.
Like I said before. Charles Darwin is going to be very busy in the coming years going after the unfit to survive due to dumb@$$3$ like this guy.
They were already far down the road of undifferentiated, 1/2 starting with modulars in the 90’s, and full now with ecoboosts. Lawler’s just admitting pre-existing mistakes, shooting straight as much as an exec can, and some can’t handle it. Ironic.
There is certainly precedent for the statement. Ram with Cummins. gm (previously) with Allison. gm with Aisin. Many manufacturers with ZF. It happens a lot more than this article would suggest. Powertrain reliability seems to have fallen off a cliff in the last five to seven years across the industry. Maybe that is what consumers care about.
Agreed,
And I. The case of trucks/SUV’s and sports cars, I’ve seen a lot of scrutinization over power train, to the point people will buy a vehicle with less features to get the engine they want. For the economy units, sure that’s true, and has been for a long time, with even Toyota selling rebadged cavaliers and GM rebadged Toyotas, but it’s hard to get an eco post guy to buy anything but an Ecoboost or, probably the best example RAM dropping the HEMI almost causing the collapse of Stellatis, and in the news this week, did cause the collapse of one of their principal suppliers Mirelli, though that company is trying to blame tarrifs in true EU fassion instead of their principal customer tanking sales by 50%
Agreed … Ford, GM, Stelanis needs to be focus on building dependable power plants, and easy to maintain. Focus on that an affordability. Then wake up all the dealers. The Ford dealer I worked with for decades got caught in a lie, a $2,100+ dollar lie regarding a transmission leak that didn’t exist. Switched to Chevrolet.
You know what drivetrain is dependable with very little maintenance needed over its lifetime? EVs.
People want reliable drivetrains. If co branding leads to that then so be it. But it is equally likely that everybody has the same problem engine or tranny regardless of what you buy
And in the case of the GM/Ford transmission, or an engine sourced from Daewoo or Hyundai, that’s totally understandable. Nash and Hudson bought Packard V8’s in the 50’s, Rolls used the 4l80 transmission in the 90’s. It’s has tons of precedent, but you loose a competitive advantage when you and your lead competitor uses the exact same engine. Right now Ford claimed best in class power with the PS, GM claimed best in class reliability with the Dmax and Allison. It’s a sales point. If they all just used a Cummins then what do they have to market with? Hey, we got a cooler color?
Mary’s half-brother.
“ …. oh the Humanity ! “
Nice to know, GM doesn’t own the market on clueless CEO’s.
what is powetrain ´? a train with power maybe is a E5 shinkansen, you put gasoline and automatic in drive and you goes
buy a flexi HORSE motor and mount in your car, gmb does this since long.. thought ford was modern too
So many pop up adds I couldn’t finish the story.
Well there goes the ICE Mustang, kicked into the hellhole abyss of automotive FUBARs. I mean my gawd what enthusiast would purchase a Mustang without a genuine Ford V8 motor?
What does it matter? Cars all look pretty much alike these days anyway, many times to tell the difference you have to look at the manufactures badge on the car (nameplate)
Malaise Era 2.0
Automotive Brutalism.
The 289 V8 was a good mil I’m told.
Corporations have been telling us what we want for as long as I can remember.
There was serious consideration and rumors that the GM Powertrain Division could be spun off or sold as its own company in the early 2000’s.
The time may be coming where the automakers design and engineer the cars and an outside supplier builds them.
Kind of like an Apple phone. Apple builds nothing but Foxconn does.
Think it may not happen. The Ford GT was not built by Ford but Magna.
Other than it’s expensive. the supplier gets lots of the profit VS doing it internally. It’s a balencing act, avoid doing too much so you don’t become like GE where it’s unwieldy, but try to keep as much in house. A good CFO will strike an optimal balence and try as much as possible to have partial ownership of some of the more critical suppliers to have partial profits, but split the risk. Think Toyota with Aisin, or Ford with AK steel.
I think Lawler is wrong. I think the opposite is true and there should be more emphasis on the powertrain. To be sure, there is a segment of the population that doesn’t care, know, or understand but that doesn’t comprise all car buyers and the thing is, those who know lead those who don’t. Just ask “Does it have a Hemi?”.
I think the mistake domestic carmakers have made is to survey buyers and ask if powertrain matters or four wheel independent suspension or any other feature and when the direct answer is no, they assume it will have no impact on sales. The reality though is people like me get asked all the time to recommend vehicles and I take all that into consideration and try to give someone sound advice. I’ve recommended and helped to sell far more vehicles than I’ve personally bought. I’d never recommend something I didn’t believe in and wouldn’t buy myself.
If one is in a place of authority at Ford Motor Company and doesn’t understand that the motor part matters, maybe they need to move on to Maybelline.
Jesus, talk about out of touch. Good grief these people are insufferable.
OMG, could you imagine all car brands having a gm 6.2 V8?
Or worse, how about a turbo-charged 1 liter, 3 cylinder engine?
That’s just crazy talk from someone who only cares about money and doesn’t have passion about driving. This guy probably owns a Tesla Cyber truck……
Or a Honda CR-V.
I think a 6.2 powered equinox would be awesome 😎.
I think an Equinox EV SS with the Optiq-V powertrain would be fun.
If people cared about powertrains they probably would not be buying all the 3 cylinder engines and CVTs
There are SOME people that don’t care about cars, don’t know about cars, and don’t care to know about cars. Many of them seem to buy the powertrains you listed and CUVs in general.
That’s the majority of consumers.
Maytag, LG, Whirlpool and others can add Ford to their appliance list.
But Maytag, LG and Whirlpool don’t get recalled nearly as much as recall champ – FORD.
Silverado HD with a Powerstroke.
does Ford T was important because the powertrain ? or other concepts ?
remember Ford exists because of Ford T
I think there is some sense to this for the general population of non-car enthusiasts. Economy cars, practical minivans and SUVs probably make sense and would no impact sales for that consumer demographic.
But they would be wise to then build trucks and sports cars with a specific engine spec that only those vehicles have. I know you lose economy of scale and it could make mustangs and F150’s even more outrageously priced, but seems people haven’t stopped buying those yet.
I used to care when I was younger. Now that I’m older, I simply want something that is safe, reliable, quiet, comfortable, affordable, and doesn’t have anything on it built by Hyundai.
My goodness. Doesn’t already Ford already uses Toyota/Aisin’s hybrid system? Is this not consolidation and cost-cutting enough for Lawler? Just use Toyota’s engine as well then. Actually that might actually be better because other than the V35A all of Toyota’ engine is more reliable than Ecoboost whatever.
It’s not who makes the engine, it’s what it does that matters. Case in point: All the handwringing here about 3 cylinder turbos, which actually sound better than 4-bangers. Yet the Chevy Trax rocketed to the top-selling model in its class in just a couple of years. Proving yet again that collective customer opinion is more representative of the market, and more important than singular online opinions.
The Trax sells because of the price point. We need more options at that price point.
Notice how most car Ads concentrate on the driver-distracting “infotainment” screens and do not mention engines at all ? With all the serious problems both Ferd and GM have experienced with their engines, this might not be a bad idea…….but then look at what happened to Ferd when they continued to allow NAVSTAR ( International) to build their Diesel engines ( the horrible 6.0) . Ram (stellantis) even had big issues with normally reliable Cummins.
Malaise era 2.0 continues full steam ahead. So now when one engine design is bad as it inevitably will be it won’t only affect one company it could affect 3 or 4. Next we can share wheels and just swap out badges to differentiate the company along with body panels, grilles, steering wheels, seats and anything else we can share and cheapen along the way. We are truly losing the plot and it’s insufferable to watch it happen!
…apparently Ford thinks restoring old train stations is the “future” of transportation.
The younger generation has a different outlook. Most are not into vehicles as differentiators, it is often an necessary evil. Disposable income for them would be better spent elsewhere. The glory days of the fifties, sixties and into the seventies are long gone.
We have a brief window of time, but as soon as China is let in the door it is game over for most of the automakers. Adapt or die.
Talk about out of touch with ihis customer base!!!!!! Been waiting 3 weeks for a confirmation number for a ICE TRUCK BEING BUILT!!!!!ridiculous ya can’t walk to dealership and buy anything other than white!!!!
Key word in this whole article is ‘government’ and EPA control.