Ford really is all-in on the $30K BEV

[chl]

Sadly we’ve heard this “$30k” EV story before. I’ll believe it when I see it.

How about a $25k one?!

Check out the Slate plan, coming to market at the end of 2026 if all goes well...

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[chl]

Good Engineers are known NOT to be suave and debonair.
I would be way more concerned if he were stylishly dressed.
The real test is, does he have a shirt pocket protector.

And iron-on patches on the elbows, and rips fixed with duct tape....

 

[Grumpy2]

I watched the interview and Tom did as good a job as possible to dig out details.

FORD is under great pressure to achieve a low-cost alternative to the BYD products that already are in Europe and may show up soon in Canada, so they are going to come out with a stripped down "town & commute car" with a low price, and they need/want to buildup public interest.

Think Ford Maverick XL at $28k but as an EV. Now if you want bells and whistles those will drive up the price quickly.

This new vehicle isn't intended to be a replacement for the Lightning. If Tesla hadn't dropped the ball so badly with their design of the CT, ford would be in real trouble now.

 

[swajames]

Ford's shitty dealers killed the Lightning, not the actually excellent product that said shitty dealers did their utmost not to sell.

And unless Ford fixes the issue of its shitty dealers and their unwillingness to sell its EVs, it doesn't matter much how good those future EVs are going to be.

 

[RLXXI]

Ford's shitty dealers killed the Lightning, not the actually excellent product that said shitty dealers did their utmost not to sell.

And unless Ford fixes the issue of its shitty dealers and their unwillingness to sell its EVs, it doesn't matter much how good those future EVs are going to be.

Yep. Dealers can't make any service money off them like they do with ic vehicles. It's a fact, dealer service departments carry the majority of the load for the dealer.

 

[Bob zimmerman]

I’m active on the Maverick forum but mostly read the Lightning forum. I own a Maverick.

I was all in on the Lightning before it hit the showroom. However, the crappy winter miles per charge stopped me from buying. I live in a climate where there is snow on the ground six months out of the year.

The Lightning was always more truck than I wanted but I was willing to squeeze the giant, heavy and terribly inefficient truck into my garage if I bought one.

I took a pass and bought a Maverick. I absolutely love this truck. And I bought it as a bridge until an EV truck came around.

I’ll be all in if the new EV truck comes out. And as was mentioned, if Ford doesn’t do something to get an affordable EV to the US market soon, they will be crushed by the Chinese once they find a way to get them into the US. The rest of the world is being taken over by Chinese EV’s and the tariffs are the ONLY thing stopping them from being here.

Bob

 

[EV Engineer]

I watched the interview and Tom did as good a job as possible to dig out details.

FORD is under great pressure to achieve a low-cost alternative to the BYD products that already are in Europe and may show up soon in Canada, so they are going to come out with a stripped down "town & commute car" with a low price, and they need/want to buildup public interest.

Think Ford Maverick XL at $28k but as an EV. Now if you want bells and whistles those will drive up the price quickly.

This new vehicle isn't intended to be a replacement for the Lightning. If Tesla hadn't dropped the ball so badly with their design of the CT, ford would be in real trouble now.

It's amazing how much of a miss the cyber truck was.

A truck 2 years ago that used Gigacasting, Aluminum body, 300 mile range, Tesla Software, tesla chargers, 200kWH charge curve. Even at 60k I think it would've been so successful that Rivian/Ford/GM would've been left far far behind.

 

[DavidS]

I’m active on the Maverick forum but mostly read the Lightning forum. I own a Maverick.

I was all in on the Lightning before it hit the showroom. However, the crappy winter miles per charge stopped me from buying. I live in a climate where there is snow on the ground six months out of the year.

The Lightning was always more truck than I wanted but I was willing to squeeze the giant, heavy and terribly inefficient truck into my garage if I bought one.

I took a pass and bought a Maverick. I absolutely love this truck. And I bought it as a bridge until an EV truck came around.

I’ll be all in if the new EV truck comes out. And as was mentioned, if Ford doesn’t do something to get an affordable EV to the US market soon, they will be crushed by the Chinese once they find a way to get them into the US. The rest of the world is being taken over by Chinese EV’s and the tariffs are the ONLY thing stopping them from being here.

Bob

My experience with a Tesla Model Y and the Lightning is that these first gen new pickups will leave you wanting for winter driving range. EVs that rely on efficiency instead of KWH for range are particularly sensitive to temperature related range reduction because of the current battery chemistry. There are better batteries on the horizon already being made in China, but based on the information this week, the first new Ford pickups will have actually the worst choice for cold weather driving.

 

[Newton]

My experience with a Tesla Model Y and the Lightning is that these first gen new pickups will leave you wanting for winter driving range. EVs that rely on efficiency instead of KWH for range are particularly sensitive to temperature related range reduction because of the current battery chemistry. There are better batteries on the horizon already being made in China, but based on the information this week, the first new Ford pickups will have actually the worst choice for cold weather driving.

That has not been my experience with my e-Golf in the winter vs my Lightning. The e-Golf is still getting close to its usual mi/kWh whereas the Lightning suffers a noticeable drop - although nothing catastrophic. This assumes that both vehicles are sharing accurate date, of course, with VW's history that is not a given.

I have actually never wanted for range on my standard range Lightning even with temps in the 20s, but I'm not trying to tow a 30' box trailer up the Rockies in the winter like apparently everybody else is.

(The obsession with towing with pickups is a bit of a mystery to me, the point of a pickup for me is that I don't have to have a trailer. In Europe people will tow with just about anything, it is weird to see an Audi Q3 pulling a big horse trailer but it works I guess).

 

[SomeStupidDriver]

Ford might be committed to the $30k price, but the dealers wont be, so its all pointless unless they start selling direct to consumer.

 

[ZeusDriver]

Ford might be committed to the $30k price, but the dealers wont be, so its all pointless unless they start selling direct to consumer.

If MSRP is 30,000, only a fool would pay more than 27,000, no matter what the dealer is trying to sell you.

Among numerous other vehicles, I've owned a Saturn and a Tesla. Paid full hit retail (MSRP) for both, because of manufacturer price control. Both were substantially overpriced. Those are the only vehicles for which I have paid anything close to MSRP, with the norm being a little less than "invoice" (fake "cost"). I bought my current Lightning for 12,000 under retail, from a dealer (purchased after the 7,500 rebate lapsed.) All the "ups" were free. $12,000 was supplied by Ford, and the dealer threw in the rest to make a deal.

Certainly, my worst buying experience, by far, was for the Tesla. Crappy trade-in offer. (Sold it outright instead). Completely clueless sales personnel, with no product knowledge on anything other than the app screen. $250 up front to diagnose an obvious warranty issue. I could go on for pages re the lousy system.

The fuzzy idea of buying "direct" may seem appealing, but in my 60 years of car-buying experience, I have never seen it work... and the Tesla experience makes even Tricky Dick Nixon seem like a better alternative for buying a car.

 

[MountainAlive]

 

[ZeusDriver]

If MSRP is 30,000, only a fool would pay more than 27,000, no matter what the dealer is trying to sell you.

Among numerous other vehicles, I've owned a Saturn and a Tesla. Paid full hit retail (MSRP) for both, because of manufacturer price control. Both were substantially overpriced. Those are the only vehicles for which I have paid anything close to MSRP, with the norm being a little less than "invoice" (fake "cost"). I bought my current Lightning for 12,000 under retail, from a dealer (purchased after the 7,500 rebate lapsed.) All the "ups" were free. $12,000 was supplied by Ford, and the dealer threw in the rest to make a deal.

Certainly, my worst buying experience, by far, was for the Tesla. Crappy trade-in offer. (Sold it outright instead). Completely clueless sales personnel, with no product knowledge on anything other than the app screen. $250 up front to diagnose an obvious warranty issue. I could go on for pages re the lousy system.

The fuzzy idea of buying "direct" may seem appealing, but in my 60 years of car-buying experience, I have never seen it work... and the Tesla experience makes even Tricky Dick Nixon seem like a better alternative for buying a car.

To continue my rant: Who are you up against in negotiating a vehicle price, direct vs dealer: 1: A huge corporation with multi-million dollar ad budget, and billion dollar losses they are trying to recoup and hundreds of lawyers on staff... or 2: some poor shmoe who has to sell cars to keep food on the table. Most people will have a far better time negotiating with the latter.

 

[ZeusDriver]

Of course, a dealer can ask any price he feels he can get away with, just as anyone does when selling a house. Only a fool would pay more than 40K for a new Bronco in 2022. That "MSRP" is fiction I assume, at about double what I paid for my 2025 Lightning.... which according to Jim Farley, is much too high a price.

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