According to a story in Bloomberg News today, Ford is working on a new base for cheap, small electric cars. The base will be able to hold a small crossover that will go on sale in late 2026 for less than $25,000. After that, a ride-hailing vehicle and a small truck will be built on it. Because of this, Ford has put off plans for an Explorer-branded electric SUV with three rows of seats. Ford is changing its objectives. A new article from Bloomberg says that Ford is delaying its bigger electric vehicles and is focusing on a line of small, cheap electric vehicles. This is because cheap Chinese electric vehicles are starting to flood the European market, and people are expecting them to soon arrive in the US as well. The first will be a small SUV that will compete with Tesla’s planned entry-level model. It will come out in late 2026 and cost around $25,000 to begin with. Bloomberg Businessweek says that Ford is making this crossover in Irvine, California, with a team of less than 100 people. It will be built on a brand-new electric base. It is planned to make both a small pickup truck and an SUV on this platform. It could be an electric option to the popular Maverick. The architecture could also lead to a certain type of ride-hailing car like the one Kia plans to release with its PV5 van, which GM is trying through its self-driving Cruise subsidiary. The tiny EV would use a lithium-iron-phosphate battery, which is 30% less expensive than regular lithium-ion batteries today. This is done to keep costs low. Bloomberg has heard from people who did not want to be named that other battery technologies are being looked into in order to bring down prices as much as possible. Alan Clarke is in charge of making cheap electric cars. Before joining Ford, he was in charge of the engineering for the Tesla Model Y. It looks like Ford was going to build an electric SUV with three rows of seats that would have brought the classic Explorer brand into the modern era, but Bloomberg says those plans have already been crushed. Ford will bring the Explorer, a small electric SUV, to Europe this year. However, it will only be sold in the Old World. It will share the Volkswagen MEB base with the VW ID.4 and the Audi Q4 e-tron.
