Prime Highlights
- Ford launches a $30,000 midsize electric pickup in 2027, with a vision to reengineer low-cost EV manufacturing.
- New Universal EV platform and “assembly tree” approach reduces cost, parts, and assembly time.
Key Fact
- Ford is targeting 20% fewer parts, 25% fewer fasteners, and 40% fewer workstations to reduce EV cost and drive profitability.
Key Background
Ford CEO Jim Farley has launched the automaker’s new electric midsize pickup truck as its “Model T moment,” a milestone on the path to mass-market affordability of EVs. Starting at $30,000 and going into production in 2027, the vehicle will be constructed on the company’s newly developed Universal EV platform. The platform is designed for manufacturing in the U.S. and will include low-cost lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries that will make electric vehicles affordable and profitable.
It will spend $5 billion on this makeover—$2 billion to install an “assembly tree” system in its Louisville Assembly Plant and $3 billion to build a Michigan battery plant. The assembly tree process breaks down production into three sub-assemblies prior to assembling them together on the end line. That makes things easier with 20% fewer parts, 25% fewer fasteners, and 40% fewer workstations, accelerating production and saving big bucks.
Ford’s action comes when its electric business is under unprecedented fiscal stress, with estimated losses of more than $5 billion in 2025. The new truck is crafted to directly compete with Tesla, General Motors, and China’s electric vehicle giant BYD. With Mustang-like acceleration, a roomy interior larger than that of the Toyota RAV4, a front trunk, and the capacity to give a home for a couple of days when there is no electricity, the truck is a combination of functionality and performance.
Farley acknowledged that the plan is a risk, since the auto business has seen numerous low-cost failures. But he emphasized that Ford’s skunkworks engineering group began the effort from zero, minimizing design and manufacturing complexity to keep costs down and make the vehicle profitable without compromising quality or capability. Ford’s strategic wager sets the company up to redefine the EV market on the basis of efficiency, simplicity, and lower cost.
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