- Americans Michael Andretti and the Jay Penske-Steve Luczo tandem have invested in the series.
- Formula E not on Ford’s radar at the moment.
- Brands highly visible in U.S. motorsports seem to be doing deeper dives where they are, but they don’t seem to be going broader.
Were they lurking in the heart of France’s picturesque Côte d’Azur, skulking in the nooks of the iconic Monaco racing paddock? Alberto Longo, co-founder of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, rather playfully hinted as much: “You’ll see them.” Keep an eye out, he warned—“and then you write whatever you want.”
Longo was referring to representatives from U.S. automakers Ford, General Motors, and the Chrysler and Dodge brands that fall under the umbrella of multinational manufacturing firm Stellantis. (Maserati, which has a stake in Formula E, falls under the Stellantis banner.)
Despite the industrial advancement, hard-core marketing, and political push to move away from internal combustion engines in passenger cars to all-electric vehicles, U.S. automakers haven’t rushed to test the rather avant-garde technology on the racetrack. But Formula E will be making its first appearance in the Pacific Northwest this weekend at Portland, Ore., and perhaps the “Big Three” will have a more visible presence.
Certainly, this 12th of 16 races on the Formula E schedule and the lone one in the United States will feature two American-owned teams in Avalanche Andretti (with drivers Jake Dennis, the No. 2-ranked racer by a single point, and André Lotterer) and DS Penske (featuring current champion Stoffel Vandoorne and two-time series champ Jean-Éric Vergne).
Jeff Dodds, the series’ newly named CEO, said the USA clearly is a market existing Formula E manufacturers want to focus on. So, conceivably, this could give them a foot in the retail market at the expense of the true American nameplates.
“From a U.S. point of view, brilliant to have Andretti, brilliant to have Penske, but it would also be brilliant to have other U.S.-centric manufacturers,” Dodds said. “All be it, if you talk to Nissan and JLR (Jaguar Land Rover), and you talk to Maserati and McLaren and Porsche, they will tell you North America is one of their top priorities in the world. So while they’re not traditionally American manufacturers, they all have a massive profile and presence in the U.S. now.”
Nissan, which fields the cars of Norma Nato and Sacha Fenestraz, has a massive North American headquarters at Franklin, Tenn., and manufacturing plants at Decherd and Smyrna, Tenn., and Canton, Miss.
Nissan, which has a strong U.S. presence, is very visible on the Formula E grid.
Attempts to reach an appropriate Chevrolet spokesman were unsuccessful. But Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsports, spoke for the Blue Oval marque.
“We’re always evaluating motorsport opportunities befitting our brand,” Rushbrook said. “But at this time, our electrification efforts are focused on developing hybrid technologies in Formula 1 and the Puma Rally1 Hybrids in WRC, as well as our robust all-electric demonstrator program.”
Ford’s demonstrators include the Mustang Mach-E 1400, Mustang Super Cobra Jet 1800, SuperVan 4, and the F-100 Eluminator. The Mach-E is a general model and has been displayed at various marketing points, including SEMA. The F-100 also has general appeal and has been a hit at trade shows and enthusiast events. NHRA drag-racing fans have seen the Cobra Jet in action many times. The SuperVan 4 is headed to next week’s Pikes Peak International Hillclimb in Colorado.
Avalanche Andretti team principal Roger Griffiths said, “We’ve had multiple conversations with Ford and GM about interest, particularly in the early days. And they, they’ve always said, oh, we are keeping a watching (eye). I think for Ford and GM, the, it’s not necessarily electrification that’s a problem for them with racing, road racing. It’s more single-seaters, is what we were told because their customer can’t walk into a showroom (and see or buy) a single-seater racing car.
“Ironically, both of them have made statements and commitments about now getting re-involved in Formula 1 or involved in Formula 1. So maybe their positioning has changed. We certainly haven’t had conversations with either party about participating in Formula E or any other form of electric motorsport that we are involved in. And they seem to be more focused on perhaps hybrid racing, LMDh (prototypes) that kind of thing. It’s perhaps more of a direct connection to what they sell in the so showroom. I can’t speak for their brand strategies.”
Griffiths said he thinks the series needs a U.S. automaker.
“It’s certainly very European-centric in terms of the manufacturers, the OEMs that are involved,” Griffiths said. “It would be nice to see not only representation from North America. I guess Chrysler is involved through the Stellantis group, but I don’t know how many people, if you said, ‘Stellantis’ to them in North America, they’d even know who Stellantis is. They know who some of their brands are, but they don’t know the overarching group. So certainly, if Ford and GM were to come in, then that’s a huge statement from the American automotive industry. It would also be nice to see more representation from Asia as well, whether that’s from Korea or from China.”
Griffiths lauded Nissan’s involvement and said, “They’ve been part of the championship for several years now, but where is Honda, where is Toyota? Et cetera. That it’d be nice to have some of those brands in, as well. I know that Honda, in the early days, had people in the pit lane looking at what was going on. I know that because I know them. I used to work with them. But we don’t yet have that. The Chinese certainly are increasing their involvement in electrification, and we don’t really have a Chinese brand here, either. So I think there’s opportunities for many of them, whether they’re U.S. domestic manufacturers or more international brands to come to Formula E.”
He said hiring American drivers isn’t necessarily the answer.
Avalanche Andretti, Griffiths said, has “gone that path in the past. We had Scott Speed in the car. We’ve had Marco Andretti in the car. And last year we had Oliver Askew in the car. Personally, I don’t know if it makes a difference. I think you have to put a huge amount of effort into building the brand of that driver. And for me, that doesn’t necessarily align with building the brand of the team. So, for me, I just want the first fastest person in the car. I couldn’t care less about their nationality, their sex, whatever it is—as long as they’re quick, they can drive.”
Longo said that as for Ford and GM, “We have a very good relationship with both of them. I think we need to grow in the U.S. as well as Formula E. The race in New York has been fantastic, in Miami, as well. But we need to grow that fan base.
“We need to also have more impact on media in order to become an attractive property for car manufacturers there. I think they’re looking at us. I don’t think they’re looking at us very seriously (for) many, many years. And we have regular catch-ups almost every six months with them to tell them what’s our vision, where are we going on the technical road map, the sporting road map. So they are all very interested and hopefully they will join and support.
“We’re super happy with the manufacturers we have. We have a representation of every big country in the world, except for the U.S. We have been in touch with them for such a long time, and we keep in regular contact with all of them. I think it’s just a matter of time that some American manufacturer will join Formula E,” he said. “But we are so proud of having so many manufacturers, double the amount of manufacturers that any other championship has. So, we cannot complain.”
Contributing Editor
Susan Wade has lived in the Seattle area for 40 years, but motorsports is in the Indianapolis native’s DNA. She has emerged as one of the leading drag-racing writers with nearly 30 seasons at the racetrack, focusing on the human-interest angle. She was the first non-NASCAR recipient of the prestigious Russ Catlin Award and has covered the sport for the Chicago Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, and Seattle Times. She has contributed to Autoweek as a freelance writer since 2016.
Read the full article here