Ford CEO Mark Fields Plans A Hybrid Pickup Truck By 2020

In a December 14th interview Ford Motor Company CEO Mark Fields told with NPR radio host Ari Shapiro that the company has "plans to have a rear-wheel drive hybrid truck but the end of the decade."

Fields went on to detail his company's interest in investing in electric propulsion and ride sharing concepts after he said "yes, we're working on electrified F-series."

The CEO says the company's working toward business sustainability and environmental sustainability. Of course, the tighter fleetwide fuel economy and emissions standards get the more creative automakers are going to have to become to meet them. Especially those that sell more pickup trucks and SUVs than anything else.

A pickup has plenty of space to carry the equipment (battery) a hybrid vehicle needs to survive, and the low-end power could be helpful in doing grunt work. While the range and pulling power probably won't be able to match a traditional gasoline or diesel engine in the near future, the tradeoff for economy might be worth it to some customers.

It doesn't sound like there are any specifics the company is willing to share at this point, but I guess you can add "2020 F-150 Hybrid" to the next-gen Wrangler, Ridgeline and other eyebrow-raisers to keep an eye out for in the truck world.

Hat tip to Autoblog! Image via the author with graphics from Ford

Contact the author at andrew@jalopnik.com.