Ford EV chief reveals plan for small affordable models

Ford is building an arsenal of affordable electric vehicles (EV) and approaching this segment in a new way to become profitable.

During the second quarter earnings call. Ford CEO, Jim Farley said the company is working on EV transition. He said that Ford’s customers are preferring smaller models compared to bigger ones with gasoline

Farley mentioned that the stress on battery costs would only increase if the company continued to make large vehicles. This new change in plan comes after the company lost more than a billion dollars in the last quarter in EVs.

Marin Gjaja, Chief Operating Officer of Ford’s Model E division told Autocar that the company is spending good resources and time on building affordable EVs.

The road to these affordable EVs goes through a small form factor and will be based on the reported “Skunkworks” architecture. However, the project is still in development and we have yet to see an affordable model.

The roadmap for these compact cars includes Fiesta, Focus, and a replacement of the Puma. There will be more new electric cars but new information is still awaited.

Gjaja mentioned that Ford doesn’t have much to offer in the affordable segment. He then jumped on to Chinese competitors saying that the market is filled with low-cost options, which are hard to compete with.

However, Ford’s EV chief promises to develop an affordable platform and it will also be used for Europe. Well-known Puma is also a part of this affordable EV transition campaign.

Furthermore, the first car with the new platform will be launched in the US in late 2026 or 2027. Ford has recently unveiled Capri’s EV version and wants to repeat this strategy with future releases.

The automaker is relying on a former Tesla engineer, Alan Clarke who joined the automaker a few years ago. He is leading the affordable platform development project. It was reported that the company has more than 300 people working on this platform including employees who previously worked in Rivian, Apple, and even Formula 1.

The new affordable architecture will use lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP), the current most popular choice for EV makers, and also reduce the cost of the vehicle.