Ford’s EV “Model T” moment starts with a $30,000 truck

Look out, Slate Auto: there’s a new upstart in town promising a low-cost electric truck. OK, it’s not really a startup per se, but rather the result of a “skunkworks” project within the storied, 122-year-old automaking giant Ford. But what that project has created is already drawing parallels to Ford’s iconic Model T and the way it revolutionized the production line.

According to CEO Jim Farley, Ford will build multiple low-cost EVs at its Louisville assembly plant through a new production process that leaves the single assembly line behind, instead shifting to three concurrent lines that join together at the end. The first vehicle produced through the new platform is planned for release in 2027 and will be a midsize EV truck starting at $30,000.

It comes at a time when the carmaker could use some good news:

Ford has struggled to maintain momentum in its EV business, which has already lost more than $2 billion this year through June.

While tariffs haven’t hit Ford as hard as some other automakers, like Porsche or Toyota, as we’ve plotted out in this graph, it still reported an $800 million hit from levies in its latest earnings.

And though sales have been strong due to Ford’s successful pricing promotion and the rush of customers trying to front-run tariff-driven increases, the tariffs are now in play and the price slashing is over.

The Takeaway

Ford’s EV chief, Doug Field, seems bullish on the company’s $30,000 future and unworried about the competition, saying, “I don’t think that the new EV startups will be able to keep up with the kind of innovation that you’re seeing in manufacturing, and how they can actually turn this into a reality.” He added that Ford has the chops to deliver, not just dream.