Things are changing at Ford. Again. Apparently, and perhaps understandably, fed up with the lack of profits from electric vehicles despite becoming America’s second-best-selling EV brand behind Tesla, the Dearborn automaker is retooling its electrified roadmap.
A three-row electric SUV is out, a hybrid three-row SUV is in, and a truck that seems like an F-150 Lightning replacement has been pushed back to 2027.
But one of the most interesting details in Ford’s strategy announcement today deals with the secretive “skunkworks” project based in California: the first vehicle on a new, lower-cost EV platform will be a midsize pickup truck, not a compact one as many—including us—had assumed.
I’m not surprised it won’t be an electric Maverick, I don’t think they’re ready to make a new version, and the current chassis I don’t think would work for a BEV, though I’m surprised they haven’t made a PHEV version, as the chassis is shared with the Escape IIRC which has a PHEV version or at least had one.