We’ve known for some time now that Ford has tasked a skunkworks team to develop a low-cost EV platform in total secrecy over the past couple of years, which will underpin more than one future all-electric model. That will reportedly begin with a mid-size pickup slated to launch in 2027, according to the automaker itself, and could also include a small crossover and rideshare vehicle at some point thereafter. Now, we’re receiving further confirmation that it will be a while before we see the next-generation line of Ford electric vehicles, in general.
Ford Vice Chair John Lawler touched on this particular subject at the 2025 AllianceBernstein Strategic Decisions Conference, where he was asked about a specific timeline in regard to when we might begin seeing the next-generation line of EVs emerge from The Blue Oval. He responded by saying that “’27, ’28 timeline, when we’ll be launching those products, yes,” seemingly confirming that we’re at least two years or so away from the debut of those models.
Originally, reports indicated that the first model to utilize this platform would be a $25k (now $30k) crossover slated to launch in late 2026, followed by a compact pickup and dedicated rideshare vehicle, rumored to be built at the Louisville Assembly plant, which currently produces the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair. That facility is reportedly set to close late this year and undergo a major retooling, after which it will produce a brand new all-electric vehicle, though it’s unclear what that product might be.
As for the next-generation Ford F-150 EV, its production start at the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center has been pushed back on a couple of occasions, and it’s currently slated for the second half of 2027. As Ford Authority reported last spring, The Blue Oval is set to use some of the learnings it gains through its skunkworks program and adapt them into the all-new F-150 EV, too.
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Translation: “We have no idea. We’re still trying to figure it out ourselves.”
And the low cost EV will start at an estimated MSRP of $40k
Just sell the company to BYD if you can’t figure it out.
“Are Two Years Away” ???? What ??? How long this “special” team as the king of podcasts Jim named it is working in a new plantaform ??? Really so much money spent, hired the amazing guy from Tesla, opened a develop center in CA because he doesn’t want to go to rainy Michigan so much incompetence …
For two years, NO new products. How long can you tread water? It’s like Audi. Nothing new for years and now they are coming out with an incomprehensible glut of new vehicles. Last year, however, they were outsold by so many makes including Buick!
That’s what happens when you give in to the whims of clueless politicians who try and control an industry they know nothing about. I call this era Malaise 2.0- very similar to the late 1970s and early 1980s when management rushed to a all front-wheel-drive future fearing $3 a gallon gas (1980 dollars) only to realize customers would gravitate toward larger vehicles when gas again became cheap and plentiful. Today, new product development dollars were wasted on EV propulsion systems and again the traditional product is left to whiter on the vine. It’ll take several years to fill that product pipeline back up.