Ford plans five models under US$40,000 by 2030

Ford is planning to launch five new models priced under US$40,000 by the end of the decade, targeting affordability as average new car prices in the US exceed US$50,000. Chief Financial Officer Sherry House told the audience at a Wolfe research conference on 11 February that the rollout will start with a previously-teased electric four-door pickup truck in 2027 and continue across multiple powertrains. 

The average selling price of a new car in America hit a record US$50,326 (£40,260) in December 2025 according to research from Cox Automotive. Edmunds data reveals that Ford’s average vehicle price during the same period sat comfortably beyond this at US$55,596. Ford’s first priority in addressing this will be leveraging its new electric vehicle mechanical platform—which it characterised at the time of reveal as a new “Model T moment”—to launch additional vehicles above and beyond the planned US$30,000 pickup. 

Cognisant that US consumer sentiment is shifting away from EVs in the absence of federal subsidies, however, Ford also plans to field an affordable internal combustion engine pickup at a new assembly plant in Tennessee from 2029 onwards. As it stands, Ford currently offers only two models priced under US$40,000: the Maverick pickup truck and Bronco Sport SUV. Other models will follow, but no details have yet been made available.

Chief Executive Jim Farley affirmed during Ford’s Q4 2025 earnings call that the automaker plans to expand market coverage with more affordable trucks and SUVs. “And we’ll do it with a broad mix of powertrains, gas, different kinds of hybrids, and fully electric. Customers want choice,” Farley said. He also warned that Chinese automakers’ overcapacity and pricing power represented a “wild card” that could force Western rivals to radically restructure their cost bases toward sustainable affordability.

Ford’s new universal EV platform, first revealed in August 2025, reduces the number of overall parts by 20% and uses 25% fewer fasteners compared with conventional vehicles. The architecture features prismatic lithium-iron phosphate batteries—the more affordable of the mainstream chemistries—serving as structural floor components. Under the new “assembly tree” manufacturing process the universal platform enables, Ford aims for 40% fewer workstations and 15% shorter assembly time.

The goal of all this appears to be matching Chinese counterparts toe-to-toe. Indeed, Farley has repeatedly acknowledged Chinese automakers hold a substantial lead on both technology and affordability. He bases this on Ford’s previous failures to anticipate disruption from overseas competitors. “Ford missed Japan, Ford missed South Korea, so we can’t miss China,” Farley said in a December interview with Argentina’s La Nación. 

Ford has emphatically denied February Financial Times reports about partnership talks with Xiaomi exploring joint EV production in the US. It did not, however, offer a similar denial about Reuters reporting several days later that indicated advanced discussions with Geely about using Ford’s underutilised Valencia plant to build Chinese models for Europe. “[We have] discussions with lots of companies all the time on a variety of topics,” a spokesperson told the outlet. “Sometimes they materialise, sometimes they don’t.”