Ford Announces Plans for Budget EV Pick-Up Truck
Ford has announced plans to introduce a new budget-oriented electric pick-up as part of a mammoth £3.8 billion investment to develop an all-new EV platform.
The American car giant already enjoys a huge share of the pick-up market in Europe and the United States where its models – the Ranger and F-150 – consistently dominate their respective territories in the sales charts.
With an increasing focus being delegated towards developing electric vehicle architecture, Ford has revealed it will be putting billions into creating a new modular platform that is likely to underpin several future models.
The first of these is set to be a mid-size pick-up truck that Ford claims will be made available for just $30,000 (around £22,000 when directly converted).
For now, it isn’t clear whether the new truck – which is said to be similar in size to the current Ford Ranger – will be sold in the UK.
However, whereas in previous decades Ford tended to differentiate its model lines for American and European markets, in recent years it has begun offering similar a range with models like the Kuga (Escape in US), Mustang Mach-E, Transit and Ranger (Maverick in US) being sold both sides of the Pond.
Talk of a new EV pick-up truck comes as the manufacturer begins sales of the new Ford Ranger PHEV, which offers an 11.8kWh battery alongside a 2.3-litre petrol engine to provide 27 miles of electric-only driving and significantly reduced CO2 emissions.
It also comes amid strong interest for the much-anticipated Slate pick-up, which aims to offer an electric truck at knock-down prices. Backed by Amazon, the Slate sacrifices many interior creature comforts in favour of a frugal battery power unit and thousands of customising options to keep costs down.
How Ford Can Afford to Make EV Pick-Up Truck So Cheap
While the launch of a new Ford pick-up truck is big news in itself, the real headline is the firm’s plan to revolutionise how it develops electric platforms.
Recent years have seen Ford collaborate with Volkswagen to develop its commercial vehicles – such as the Transit Connect (Caddy), Transit Custom (Transporter) and Ranger (Amarok) – but this time the manufacturer is going it alone.
As part of its £3.8bn investment, Ford will look to reduce the number of separate parts in the chassis by 75 per cent and reduce fasteners and welds by 50 per cent. It will also devise a new way to construct vehicles on its assembly line that it believes will be more efficient in terms of time and cost.
The announcement will provide fresh impetus for the Ford brand going forward, particularly in Europe where sales have been on a steady decline among its passenger car arm.
Despite this, Ford Pro – its commercial arm – continues to go from strength-to-strength, particularly in the pick-up truck class where the Ranger holds a market share in Europe of 43.6 per cent.
