Ford's answer to cheap Chinese electric vehicles starts with a $30,000 pickup

Ford Motor says it has an answer to the cheap Chinese electric vehicles that are gobbling up market share around the world, and it starts with a $30,000 electric pickup for U.S. consumers.

- Sharon Terlep

The automaker said Monday that it would spend $2 billion to overhaul a Louisville, Ky., factory to build a new line of affordable, high-tech EVs. It aims to launch the pickup in 2027.

Even though EV sales have stalled in the U.S., automakers say the vehicles are still the industry's future. Americans want EVs that are smaller and affordable but also fun to drive and stuffed with technology, executives have said.

Chinese automakers such as BYD have mastered this model. They have leveraged a low-cost supply base, cheap labor and lean designs to undercut legacy automakers on price, while offering slick digital features and moving aggressively into Europe, the Middle East and other Asian markets.

Steep tariffs and regulatory hurdles have so far kept Chinese brands out of the U.S., but they are proliferating quickly in Mexico and Latin America. At an event Monday, Ford executives said their new line of EVs is aimed at rivaling Chinese designs, banking on Americans' willingness to convert to EVs if they are more affordable but still brimming with extras.

"This is a bold and difficult undertaking to compete with the best in the world," said Doug Field, a former Tesla and Apple executive Ford hired in 2021 to lead its technical transformation.

He appeared alongside Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley, who was surrounded by cheering auto workers as he announced the plan at the Ford factory where the EVs will be built.

"I can't tell you with 100% certainty that this will all go right," Farley said, noting Detroit automakers' history of trying and failing to build profitable smaller vehicles. "This is a risk."