Ford's Secret Weapon to Beat Tesla Is a $30,000 EV Truck

Just as the American EV market braces for a potential collapse, Ford is making a shocking pivot. With federal tax credits set to disappear on September 30 and demand expected to plummet, the automaker is doubling down with an additional $2 billion investment in battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). But it’s doing so with a new strategy borrowed not from its American rivals, but directly from China.

The centerpiece of this bet is a new midsize electric pickup with a targeted base price of just $30,000. CEO Jim Farley announced, on Monday, the unnamed vehicle at an event in Louisville, Kentucky, where it will be assembled, with a planned market arrival in 2027.

“This new truck, based on this universal platform, is going to be more spacious inside than the RAV4, the best-selling car in the United States,” Farley declared, directly targeting the king of the gasoline SUV market. “But it will have a frunk and it will have a whole pickup truck bed behind it. No one has seen this kind of flexibility.”

A $30,000 Truck With a Familiar Name?

Recent reports suggest the new EV pickup could be a revival of the Ranchero. According to the site Ford Authority, the company has filed a new trademark for the name, specifically for use on electric pickup trucks. The Ranchero, a car-truck hybrid not seen on U.S. roads since 1979, was a cult classic that offered the comfort of a sedan with the utility of a pickup bed.

This move marks a radical departure for Ford. It’s a break from its American competitors, notably Tesla, which has focused on premium vehicles like the commercially struggling Cybertruck. It’s also a break from Ford’s own profitable strategy of selling large, expensive pickups and SUVs like the F-150 and Expedition.

Instead, Ford is adopting a strategy that looks much more like that of Chinese automaker BYD, which has become the world’s largest EV seller by specializing in affordable electric cars. The cheapest BYD EV, the Seagull, starts at the equivalent of just $9,700 in China. This focus on affordability has allowed BYD to steal massive market share from Tesla in both China and Europe.

Farley acknowledged that many current EVs don’t address what buyers actually want. “A computer can have much lower costs—that’s why we redid this platform… to bring the costs down,” he told CNBC.

The Secret Sauce: Reinventing the Factory

So how does Ford plan to build a low-cost, high-performance pickup that no other American automaker has managed? By completely reinventing its design and manufacturing process. A secret “skunkworks” team created, the carmaker said, the new “Ford Universal EV Platform,” a simplified architecture using 20% fewer parts and 25% fewer fasteners. The wiring harness alone is 4,000 feet shorter.

The battery is another key. Ford is manufacturing its own cobalt-free LFP prismatic batteries in Michigan. This chemistry is, Ford claimed, significantly cheaper, and its design allows it to serve as a structural part of the truck’s floor, saving space and cost.

Finally, Ford has reinvented the factory itself. Instead of the traditional moving assembly line, the new truck will be built using an “assembly tree.” The vehicle is built in three main sub-assemblies—the front, the rear, and the structural battery floor with the interior already attached—which are then joined at the end. Ford claims this revolutionary process is 15% faster and considerably simpler.

“Our idea is that the people working here in Louisville will be able to buy this car and spend money on other things they love, like vacations, their home, and their children’s education,” Farley said.

This new truck is a direct challenge to the entire auto industry. But it comes as Ford’s own EV division is struggling. In the second quarter of 2025, the unit recorded an operating loss of $1.3 billion. The company is betting that this radical new approach, borrowed from China and powered by American innovation, is the only way to finally make EVs profitable for the company and affordable for everyone else.