August 1, 2025 - Ford Skunkworks EV Coming to Louisville

This is the Telemetry Transportation Daily for August 1, 2025 and I'm Sam Abuelsamid, vice president of market research for Telemetry.

During Ford's second quarter earnings call this week, CEO Jim Farley made a surprise announcement. After discussing the improvement in the financial results for the Model E team that is responsible for developing electric vehicles, software and services, Farley announced that on August 11, new information would be shared about the next-generation EV coming from the company's skunkworks program in California. An event will be held on that day at the Louisville, Kentucky assembly plant that currently produces the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair. 

The Escape and possibly the Corsair are expected to be discontinued by early 2026 after which the plant will be retooled. The plant is one of two in the Louisville area, the other building Ford's Super Duty pickup trucks, Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. The Escape plant is expected to produce the midsize electric pickup that was announced in August 2024. This is a product of the California skunkworks program that has been working on lower cost EVs. That program has been carefully studying how Chinese manufacturers achieve such low costs. 

Unlike the current midsize Ranger that is a body on frame design, the new truck is likely to be a unibody architecture utilizing large scale die castings and a structural lithium iron phosphate battery pack produced in Marshall, Michigan. If Ford actually follows this approach, this new truck could be equal in price or even less expensive than the Ranger giving it a major competitive advantage in the US market. It's unlikely this truck could approach the planned $27,000 sticker price of the new Slate truck, but unlike the Slate, the Ford probably won't be as minimalist and will at least have features like an infotainment system, power windows and four seats. If Ford can get such a truck built in the low $30,000 range, it is likely to be far more appealing than the Slate to consumers. 

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