Chinese EVs are gaining traction worldwide, and Ford isn’t waiting for a battle on the home front to have an answer. Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, vows that the next EV that comes out of Dearborn will be a “game-changing” new mid-size electric pickup truck. Farley claims the truck will closely rival Chinese competitors, specifically in terms of production costs. Of course, there is one small problem: the truck is still three years away from hitting the market.
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Ford needs to drive EV profits and Chinese automakers are squarely in their sights
With billions of dollars in EV losses through the first half of 2024, Ford needs to step it up when it comes to profitability. Farley claims that Ford will “match the cost structure of any Chinese manufacturer building in Mexico in the future.”
How can he be so sure, you ask? He followed that up by stating that “60 percent of the [bill of materials] has already been quoted.” So, Ford knows exactly how much it should cost to put together the new truck when the time finally comes. And, more importantly, that it can, in fact, be profitable.
Ford
The new mid-size electric truck is anticipated to compete directly with trucks like the BYD Shark, which is available for pre-orders in global markets. Cost-saving methods include in-house battery assembly and relying on a flexible platform shared across models.
Earlier this year, Farley praised the Skunkworks team working on a platform that is slated to be shared with many electrified Ford vehicles coming in the near-to-distant future, claiming that they’ve “over-delivered.” With a chassis that good and the added bonus of LFP battery production beginning in Michigan sometime in 2026, the outlook admittedly looks good. But, that brings us to the problem of timing.
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Delays have pushed the Ford truck’s production back considerably
Ford has changed its EV plans more than a few times. Between scrapping a three-row electric SUV and diversifying hybrid offerings, the landscape looks very different today than it did even just a few months ago. The truck, thus far only known as “Project T3,” isn’t slated to hit the market until late 2027, and Ford hasn’t released any further information on the truck.
Ford
Despite the considerable delay, Ford still plans to rely on their Tennessee factory to assemble the truck. Meanwhile, BYD is considering a production site in Mexico that will tout a reported 150,000 units of annual capacity.
Seeing as how Mexico has already started taking delivery of BYD vehicles – and the Shark makes landfall globally early next year – we can’t help but feel Ford is a little bit behind the times. In most markets, the BYD Shark is priced around the equivalent of $55,000 and squarely competes with the existing Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux.
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Final thoughts
Ford needs to make a profitable EV. Everyone knows it, and nobody better than Farley and Ford themselves. The EV marketplace is full of automakers brandishing promises like magic wands. It’s simply too early to tell how relevant a mid-size Ford EV truck will fare in the grand scheme of things, particularly one that’s three or more years away from the market. We like what we hear so far – we just hope it’s enough to keep Ford in the game.
