- Blue Oval about to reveal huge electric car advancement.
- Ford boss Jim Farley has previously praised Chinese electric cars.
- The first vehicle on the new EV platform is thought to be a mid-size ute.
Ford’s outspoken boss said the company is on the cusp of another “Model T moment”.
Jim Farley said Ford's electric car breakthrough would be revealed on August 11, during an earnings call in July.
"We will be in Kentucky to share more about our plans to design and build a breakthrough electric vehicle and a platform in the US," said Farley.
"This is a Model-T moment for us at Ford. A chance to bring a new family of vehicles to the world that offer incredible technology, efficiency, space and features," said Farley.
Ford’s boss has heaped high praise on China’s electric cars.
“I don’t like talking about the competition so much, but I drive a Xiaomi. We flew one from Shanghai to Chicago and I’ve been driving it for six months now, and I don’t want to give it up,” said Farley in a previous interview with Everything Electric Show.
“I’ve had two trips to China the last two years that were literally epiphanies,” he said.
“In the west, our cell phone companies are not into cars – they don't have car companies. But in China, both Huawei and Xiaomi, the two biggest cell phone companies, are inside of every vehicle that is made.”
This new breakthrough could be Ford’s attempt to bridge the gap between China’s new generation of electric cars.
Ford had previously announced it has developed a "skunkworks" to supercharge its new electric cars and develop a new low cost platform.
“We recruited the most technically skilled and creative professionals from inside and outside Ford to drive a radical change in how we develop an electric vehicle,” said Farley at the time.
“The work of this highly talented team has evolved into a critical enabler of our electric vehicle strategy. These electric vehicles will be lower cost, and not compromised in any way.”
The first car believed to be built on this platform is a mid-size electric ute. It’s not known if this will be a Ranger or a new similar sized vehicle.
According to earlier reports the Ford boss described the mid-size EV ute as “one of the most exciting” game changing products and that it’s an “incredible package”.
Farley has also committed to Ford developing and making Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries, which would help it compete with lower cost options such as BYD on the global stage.
Ford has lots of work ahead of it, but we’ll know its first step shortly.
-Dom Tripolone, news editor.