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Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) said today that it is investing approximately $5 billion and creating or securing ~4000 jobs at the Louisville Assembly Plant and BlueOval Battery Park in Michigan to deliver a new pickup and produce advanced prismatic LFP batteries.
“We took a radical approach to a very hard challenge: Create affordable vehicles that delight customers in every way that matters – design, innovation, flexibility, space, driving pleasure, and cost of ownership – and do it with American workers,” claimed Ford President and CEO Jim Farley.
The first tangible product will be a mid-size four-door electric pickup with a targeted starting price of ~$30,000, assembled at Louisville Assembly Plant and reaching customers in 2027. Claims include: “As fast as a Mustang EcoBoost. More passenger space than the latest Toyota RAV4 – with a frunk and a bed.”
In a rare but welcome partial grudging acknowledgement of Ford’s struggles with EVs, “We have all lived through far too many ‘good college tries’ by Detroit automakers to make affordable vehicles that ends up with idled plants, layoffs, and uncertainty. So, this had to be a strong, sustainable and profitable business,” Farley said.
“From Day 1, we knew there was no incremental path to success. We empowered a tiny skunk-works team three time zones away from Detroit,” said Farley. “We tore up the moving assembly line concept and designed a better one. And we found a path to be the first automaker to make prismatic LFP batteries in the U.S.” This isn’t true. See AutoInformed On* below.
The Ford Universal EV Platform
The platform claims to reduce parts by 20% versus a typical vehicle, with 25% fewer fasteners, 40% fewer workstations dock-to-dock in the plant and 15% faster assembly time. Also claimed are “Lower cost of ownership over five years than a three-year-old used Tesla Model Y.”
No surprise here that additional specifications for the mid-size electric truck, including reveal date, starting price, EPA-estimated battery range, battery sizes and charge times, will be released later.
*AutoInformed on
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
Bold EV Talk from Ford Motor
Click for more.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) said today that it is investing approximately $5 billion and creating or securing ~4000 jobs at the Louisville Assembly Plant and BlueOval Battery Park in Michigan to deliver a new pickup and produce advanced prismatic LFP batteries.
“We took a radical approach to a very hard challenge: Create affordable vehicles that delight customers in every way that matters – design, innovation, flexibility, space, driving pleasure, and cost of ownership – and do it with American workers,” claimed Ford President and CEO Jim Farley.
The first tangible product will be a mid-size four-door electric pickup with a targeted starting price of ~$30,000, assembled at Louisville Assembly Plant and reaching customers in 2027. Claims include: “As fast as a Mustang EcoBoost. More passenger space than the latest Toyota RAV4 – with a frunk and a bed.”
In a rare but welcome partial grudging acknowledgement of Ford’s struggles with EVs, “We have all lived through far too many ‘good college tries’ by Detroit automakers to make affordable vehicles that ends up with idled plants, layoffs, and uncertainty. So, this had to be a strong, sustainable and profitable business,” Farley said.
“From Day 1, we knew there was no incremental path to success. We empowered a tiny skunk-works team three time zones away from Detroit,” said Farley. “We tore up the moving assembly line concept and designed a better one. And we found a path to be the first automaker to make prismatic LFP batteries in the U.S.” This isn’t true. See AutoInformed On* below.
The Ford Universal EV Platform
The platform claims to reduce parts by 20% versus a typical vehicle, with 25% fewer fasteners, 40% fewer workstations dock-to-dock in the plant and 15% faster assembly time. Also claimed are “Lower cost of ownership over five years than a three-year-old used Tesla Model Y.”
No surprise here that additional specifications for the mid-size electric truck, including reveal date, starting price, EPA-estimated battery range, battery sizes and charge times, will be released later.
*AutoInformed on
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.