As Ford Authority reported back in February, The Blue Oval is shifting its focus away from pricier, more luxurious EVs and instead focusing on developing smaller, cheaper all-electric models. In fact, the automaker has secretly been working on a low-cost Ford EV for a couple of years now via a skunkworks project spearheaded by a former Tesla executive, which may use the Ford Escape as something of a template. Details regarding this new, cheap Ford EV have recently begun to emerge, helping to shed some light on what we can expect from it. Now, yet another interesting footnote has surfaced via Automotive News – where this future Ford EV may be built.
According to an unnamed source, the future low-cost Ford EV will be built at the Louisville Assembly plant, which currently produces the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair. Notably, as part of its new master contract agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union inked last year, this same plant is slated to add an all-electric vehicle to its assembly line at some point before its expiration in 2028, too.
With FoMoCo shifting its electrification focus and reportedly delaying plans to build a three-row Ford Explorer EV for North America, it’s unclear if this new low-cost Ford EV – which is slated to cost around $25k and launch in late 2026 – will indeed be based on the Escape. However, multiple reports and comments from CEO Jim Farley over the past couple of years seem to indicate that it’s a possibility, at least.
As Ford Authority reported in late 2022, a product roadmap from a third-party company noted that the Escape was set to be replaced by an EV crossover in early 2026, and roughly one year later, the UAW’s new contract with the automaker noted that production of both the Escape and Lincoln Corsair were set to continue through 2028, though the aforementioned new EV product would be joining them at some point – all before Farley noted that “if you have anything larger than Escape, it better be really functional or a work vehicle as an EV,” while speaking at the recent 2024 Wolfe Conference.
We’ll have more on Ford’s future low-cost EV soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
Comments
How about following the Focus or Fiesta model instead of another SUV?
Mark a subcompact is Unlikely. SUVs have been the most popular form of automobile with the public for more than a decade. Farley has said the next generation EVs must be profitable in 12 months. That is unlikely with a subcompact sold in the U.S.
Ford using data from its effort in 2017 prior to the swing to Mach E Mustang design platform? Combing with latest skunk works team?