Ford unveiled the Fathom electric pickup truck for nearly $30,000
Kyiv • UNN
Ford has unveiled the new affordable Fathom electric pickup truck, with a starting price in the United States of $28,350. The model is the first on the UEV platform, which made it possible to reduce the number of parts by 20%.
Ford has unveiled the new Fathom electric pickup, which will become the first model on the Universal EV (UEV) platform. The vehicle is positioned as an affordable electric car with modern technology, and its starting price in the United States will be $28,350. Yahoo Finance reports, writes UNN.
Details
The pickup will start at $28,350 for the version with the standard battery, excluding the $1,595 destination and delivery fee. This will make it one of the cheapest electric vehicles on the U.S. market.
Ford explained that it chose the name Fathom because of its meaning—the creation of this pickup required a "new level of innovation," enabling the company to achieve capabilities that had previously seemed unattainable.
Ford's main focus with the Fathom is to present it as a technological vehicle that is also engaging to drive, despite its affordable price. All Fathom versions will support BlueCruise—Ford's driver-assistance system for hands-free driving on highways—as well as bidirectional energy transfer, a large high-resolution touchscreen, and a digital key.
Ford also emphasized plans to integrate Apple Maps directly into the vehicle's navigation system, although owners will still be able to use Apple CarPlay and Android Auto if they wish.
According to the company, the Fathom will have more passenger space than the Toyota RAV4, as well as a front trunk and a cargo bed for greater flexibility in transporting loads.
A new way of manufacturing the pickup
The Fathom will be the first Ford vehicle manufactured using the new "assembly tree" production process at the Louisville Assembly Plant, as well as the first model created on the UEV platform. The company said this approach is intended to deliver a new level of affordability and efficiency.
Ford says the UEV platform reduces the total number of parts by 20% compared with the company's standard vehicle production programs. The production line also reduced the number of workstations by 40% compared with current production.
According to Ford, the smaller number of parts and the change in the assembly process will make producing the pickup less expensive.
To reduce battery costs, Ford will use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) technology. These are less expensive batteries that do not use cobalt; they have lower energy density but offer significantly lower costs, the ability to charge more frequently, and increased safety.
Ford's first electric vehicles, including the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning pickup, gave the company important experience regarding buyer expectations and the challenges of producing electric cars from scratch.
The main problem for Ford and other automakers, apart from Tesla, was that actual demand for electric vehicles turned out to be significantly lower than the industry had expected, while the costs of such programs were enormous. For Ford, this resulted in $19.5 billion in write-downs.
As a result, Ford changed its electric-vehicle development strategy. The company is now focused on the UEV platform, which was developed from scratch by a dedicated team in California. The Fathom will be the first model on this platform, and Ford plans to make it profitable from the moment it launches.
We are still at the stage of rapidly reducing the cost of electric vehicles, and this can only be achieved through innovation and optimization of the entire system, ultimately creating a product that customers need
The company believes that by creating vehicles with maximum efficiency, new electric vehicles on the UEV platform will be able to succeed.
The real test will be the vehicle's market launch and buyers' response. Ford has already opened registration to receive updates about the Fathom. Preorders are planned to open in early 2027, while customer deliveries are expected to begin later that year.