Ford is betting its next electric pickup can undercut Chinese rival BYD on price while turning a profit — a feat no US automaker has achieved at the $30,000 price point.
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Ford targets $30,000 electric pickup by 2027 to beat BYD
Ford is betting its next electric pickup can undercut Chinese rival BYD on price while turning a profit — a feat no US automaker has achieved at the $30,000 price point.
Ford Motor Co. plans to sell a $30,000 electric pickup truck by the end of 2027, directly challenging Chinese EV giant BYD on price in a segment where no American automaker has yet turned a profit.
"This product has some of the most radical innovation our industry has seen in 120 years," Jim Farley, Ford's chief executive officer, said in an interview. "We're not doing it to be radical. We're doing it because we need to make money at a low cost."
The truck, internally called the Universal Electric Vehicle, will use two large unit castings and 50 percent fewer fasteners than current Ford models, Farley said. It targets buyers of small crossover SUVs such as the Toyota RAV4 — a group Ford discovered through its F-150 Lightning that was willing to switch to a pickup with a bed. The Lightning, however, was "too big, the batteries were too expensive," Farley said. The new model aims to be profitable at $30,000 without government incentives, a threshold that has eluded US automakers. The average price of a new EV in the US reached $54,532 in May 2026, according to Kelley Blue Book, while Ford's average transaction price was $57,188.
Ford sold 84,113 EVs in the US in 2025, compared with Tesla's 589,160. BYD, which briefly overtook Tesla as the world's largest EV maker in 2025, sold 4.6 million vehicles globally and offers compact electric models starting at about $28,000. BYD does not currently sell passenger cars in the US because of tariffs and federal restrictions, but Farley said Ford "has to beat BYD" because the Chinese company could eventually enter the market with vehicles built in Mexico. "To beat BYD at $30,000, like a BYD made in Mexico, that's an incredible fitness test," he said.
The UEV project has been in development for five years at a Ford skunk works team in California composed partly of former Formula 1 engineers, Farley said. He compared the vehicle's philosophy to the Model T, which Henry Ford built with the most expensive steel available but the simplest design. "The best part is no part," Farley said, describing the truck's minimalist engineering approach.
Ford's strategy represents a sharp departure from the industry's focus on premium EVs. "Five, six years ago, this was the opposite of our entire industry," Farley said. "Our entire industry was obsessed with a $50,000 to $70,000 electric vehicle. And we went completely student body left to do a $30,000 affordable EV, made in the US, that's profitable and sustainable."
The competitive stakes are high. BYD's average selling price in Europe is about $45,083, according to its website, but its domestic Chinese models start far lower, giving it a cost structure US automakers struggle to match. Critics argue BYD's price advantage stems partly from lower labor costs and fewer regulatory requirements, advantages Ford cannot replicate.
Ford shares will face scrutiny on whether the company can deliver on its cost targets. The automaker trades at about 7 times forward earnings, a discount to Tesla's roughly 60 times, reflecting investor skepticism about Ford's ability to scale EV production profitably. If the UEV succeeds, it could open a mass-market segment that Tesla's Cybertruck — starting above $60,000 — does not address, and pressure Rivian Automotive Inc., whose R1T starts at about $70,000.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
