Ford’s Electric Revolution: New Midsize Pickup Built on Game-Changing Platform
Ford just rewrote the EV playbook. Their new midsize electric pickup isn't just another truck—it's a manufacturing revolution.
The secret sauce? A radical new production process paired with a dedicated EV platform. This isn't some retrofitted gas guzzler—it's ground-up electric engineering.
Wall Street analysts are already salivating over the cost savings (though let's be honest—they'll still find a way to call it 'priced for perfection'). Meanwhile, Tesla's Cybertruck just got some serious competition in the worksite-to-weekend utility vehicle space.
One thing's clear: The electric pickup wars just got interesting. Again.
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The platform will allow the company to make all kinds of FORM factors, such as sedans, SUVs, and vans, built at scale and with simplicity. Ford said the number of parts will be far fewer and the vehicles will be lighter.
Ford CEO Jim Farley called it a "Model T" moment for the automaker, boldly claiming that this platform, as well as its production process, will revolutionize how the company makes its future EVs.
"We took a radical approach to solve a very hard challenge: Create affordable vehicles that are breakthrough in every way that matters — design, technology, performance, space and cost of ownership — and do it with American workers," Farley said in a statement.
Last year, Ford's Model e EV unit lost $5.1 billion, and the company expects losses to stay the same in 2025. The company sold 105,000 EVs, meaning the company lost around $48.5K per EV sold.
Those numbers need to change, and Farley and Ford believe both the new platform and production strategy will flip the EV business into the green starting in 2027.
Ford said its Universal Assembly Process will make efficiency key to building these new EVs. The process transforms the traditional single-row assembly line into an "assembly tree," where three subassemblies run in parallel before merging at a later point..
Ford said the Universal Assembly Process transforms the traditional single-aisle assembly line into an "assembly tree," where three subassemblies run in parallel before merging. · FordFord said the use of larger cast parts, allowing the front and rear to be assembled separately and then brought together, and the use of the structural battery in the middle of the car will make assembly faster and cheaper.
Ford will institute this process at its Louisville Assembly Plant. The company predicts the new truck will be built 40% faster than the vehicles currently assembled there.
To that end, Ford will invest nearly $2 billion at the Louisville plant and create 2,200 jobs. Ford had previously committed $3 billion for its BlueOval Battery Park in Michigan, where the company will build cheaper prismatic LFP batteries using licensed technology from China's CATL.
Story ContinuesFord's bet on cheaper EVs comes as the industry faces a make-or-break moment with fully electric vehicles. Thus far, Tesla (TSLA) has been the only company able to build EVs at scale and with decent profit margins. Now, the industry faces more competition and the loss of the federal EV tax credit in Q3 of this year.
StockStory aims to help individual investors beat the market.Pras Subramanian is the lead auto reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram.
