Kay Hart: President of Ford's International Markets Group on the motor industry and electric vehicles

The future of cars is becoming increasingly complex. 

EVs, BEVs, and PHEVs have been pushed as the vehicles of the future, and yet there’s been an increasing number of major producers backtracking on the promise to go electric. 

The idea that the internal combustion engine will no longer be produced by 2030 seems to be out of reach. 

Kay Hart, the President of International Markets Group at Ford, has been in the automotive industry for nearly 25 years, and has seen quite a significant amount of change in that time. 

“I think the change has been phenomenal on so many fronts,” she told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking. 

“The changes that we’ve seen in technology available in our vehicles, the connectivity of our vehicles, the features that are available to our customers, power train that we have, and also the way customers interact with, purchase, and service vehicles, I think has changed hugely over that 25 years.” 

There are distinct differences in the regulations each market has, and so automotive producers need to be very clear on what the rules and regulations are, and how they bring the right products to their customers in those regions. 

For example, the EU has restrictions around emissions and the use of internal combustion engines, but Hart says their timelines can leave something to be desired. 

“To be clear, we are for, are very much in favour of cleaner vehicles, lowering carbon emissions,” she told Hosking. 

“The overall, the intent of governments have been positive in terms of what their intent is. I think, to your point, maybe some of the timelines don’t necessarily ensure that we had the most viable alternatives for our customers in the market at the right time.” 

That flux, Hart thinks is what the industry is struggling to adjust to when it comes to EVs. 

“In the market like New Zealand, to have the most aggressive curve in the world, probably unfairly punished vehicles that didn’t really have a viable alternative.” 

“And that's, that’s probably where we’re at now.” 

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