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Ford has been in need of some cheaper vehicles beyond the Maverick and Escape, and it appears the automaker will answer that call starting next year. Representatives from the company assured dealers on Wednesday that they’ll see a slate of all-new models priced below $40,000 before the decade is through, including an electric midsize pickup that will hit showrooms in 2027.
These models won’t be redesigns or cut-down versions of existing vehicles, but all-new nameplates, Andrew Frick, president of Ford’s EV and gas-car divisions, said at the National Automobile Dealers Association trade expo in Las Vegas. “It will be across our lineup of cars, trucks, SUVs, vans, and it will be multi-energy,” Frick said, per Automotive News.
But the manufacturer will make moves to make existing models more affordable, too. Those will include a first-time buyer program and, dovetailing a trend we touched on yesterday, prioritizing certified pre-owned vehicles.
Through these measures and those upcoming inexpensive products, Ford communicated to dealers that it intends to retain 70 percent of Edge and Escape customers and keep them from shopping elsewhere. That’s important, because with the Edge long dead and the writing on the wall for the Escape, Ford has to have a solid plan for replacements. They might’ve never been the Blue Oval’s most beloved nameplates, but they did address a very important section of the market: people who need cheap transportation that isn’t a truck, and couldn’t care less if it was remotely off-roady.
As for that midsize electric pickup, we’ve of course heard Ford make plenty of noise about it before, and we’re looking forward to hopefully getting our first glimpse of it this year even if dealers won’t have their hands on it until next. Less is known about those four other models, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s premature to be hyping a Focus or Fiesta comeback—at least here in the States. Hopefully, Europe gets its wish; I promise I’ll only be extremely jealous.
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Backed by a decade of covering cars and consumer tech, Adam Ismail is a Senior Editor at The Drive, focused on curating and producing the site’s slate of daily stories.
