Ford may be reassessing its short-term electric plans and investing more in hybrids and gas powertrains in the face of weak EV demand, but the company is still betting big on electric power in the US, investing some $5 billion in its new ‘Universal’ EV platform.
The platform is designed to underpin a family of more affordable EVs that’ll potentially be sold in numerous global markets, but the first will be aimed squarely at American buyers – a mid-sized pickup built at the company’s Louisville, KY assembly plant and targeting a $30,000 entry price. Now, ahead of it going on sale next year, Ford CEO Jim Farley has given us a sneak peek at the new truck.
Game-changing production methods
Farley visited some of the team working on the Universal platform, and took to social media to share some glimpses of a prototype truck in build. In the post on X, he called the platform “one of the most audacious and important projects in Ford’s history,” and detailed some of the work going into the truck.
That includes the team working to make it as aero-efficient as possible – a vital part of any EV if it wants to up its range game – as well as the ‘unicastings’ being used in its construction. These two large single-piece aluminum castings take the place of 146 individual parts, says Farley, and help make the construction process more efficient as well as safer for assembly line workers.
What else can we expect from the truck?
At the original announcement of the Universal platform back in August last year, Ford promised that the as-yet-unnamed truck will bring acceleration on a par with an EcoBoost-powered Mustang, more passenger space than a Toyota RAV4, and a lower cost of ownership over five years than a used Tesla Model Y – all while starting at less money than a RAV4, too.
That’s still about all we know of the pickup for now, but we can expect a whole lot more information to trickle out over the coming months ahead of it going on sale in 2027.
The First of Many
The Universal EV platform is designed to be modular and underpin a whole family of affordable EVs, aimed at both the US and various international markets. The truck is the only one we have concrete info on, but at the original announcement, Ford shared a graphic that showed the outlines of some of the other vehicles that could sit on the platform, including hatchbacks, three-row SUVs and vans.
This broad appeal should be a key part of the platform’s success, which it’ll need to bring Ford, because between the assembly plant in Louisville and the spending on the BlueOval Battery Park in Michigan that’ll produce the battery packs, roughly $5 billion is being spent on the project. That’s undoubtedly a big bet at a time when EV demand is uncertain, but if it helps lower the entry cost to a good electric car – undoubtedly one of the barriers to wider adoption – it could just pay off.
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Mike Bartholomew
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