Ford will launch a new range of affordable electric cars based on a new EV platform and created with a new "revolutionary" process.
Claimed to be as revolutionary for the company as the arrival of the Model T, the Universal EV Platform – created during a three-year skunkworks project – will be first used for a mid-size, double-cab pick-up truck that will arrive in 2027, priced at $30,000 (around £22,000).
Ford CEO Jim Farley said more models will follow, with Ford hinting these will include a hatchback, crossover, van and a three-bench SUV, which are likely to start at around the same price.
The cheapest Ford currently on sale is the Puma Gen-E compact crossover, which starts at £29,995 in the UK.
Autocar previously reported that the company's new scalable platform could open up the potential for a new range of small cars – such as spiritual successors to the Fiesta and Focus.
The new EVs, which will be built Ford's Louisville plant in the US, are expected to be offered globally, given that Farley proclaimed “from Kentucky to the world” when speaking about the new platform.
Ford building the cars in the US and exporting them globally will be seen as a win for the country and especially president Donald Trump.
This follows the recent signing of trade deals with the UK and EU, which lowered import levies on US-made vehicles sent to those markets.
However, the first new Ford EV has been created with an eye on Ford’s home market. It will be positioned to take on the Amazon-backed Slate Truck and used to boost sales in the EV-sceptical US market.
Other EVs sold in the US include the Mustang Mach-E SUV, F-150 Lightning pick-up truck and E-Transit van.
The new truck is expected to take the Ranchero name, according to US media. This would fall into Ford’s push of assigning notable names from its past – such as Capri and Explorer – for its new EVs.
No technical details about the new platform have been revealed, but Farley said the pick-up will use prismatic lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery cells made at Ford’s new Blue Oval Battery Park in Michigan.
This means the pick-up will offer “amazing” range and store enough energy to “power a house for six days", said Farley.
He added that it will be “faster than a Mustang twin-turbo”, offer “very fast” charging and feature an operating system that can be updated over the air.
Farley said the new platform has been created to major on interior space, making the new truck “more spacious inside than a Toyota RAV4”. It will also have a frunk.
Key to keeping prices down for this new range of cars is the manufacturing process at Louisville. Ford says it will use three lines ("branches") to create the vehicles, assembling the front, rear and core structure (which includes the platform, battery, seats and interior) on separate lines which will come together at the end.
This, it says, "revolutionises the factory and simplifies work for our employees".
Although buoyant, Farley was cautious in his announcement, saying: “We needed a radical approach to creating affordable vehicles. We needed to do it, but we also need to be sustainable and make money.
“There are no guarantees with this project. It is a bet. There is risk. I cannot 100% say this will work. There is an automotive graveyard full of projects that have not worked.”
Farley highlighted the fact that Ford will create its new EVs in the US, saying: “Our competitors build their vehicles in Asia and import them from abroad. This is not what we are doing. We took on the challenge that others have stopped doing.
“This project is bigger than Ford motor cars. It is about our country."
