Ford is building a mystery electric vehicle in Ohio, but what is it?
Ford is adding jobs and new vehicles at its Midwest factories
Ford President Kumar Galhotra provides insight into when that price point could be available to the consumer and what it would entail to make that happen.
As part of Ford's announcement that it will spend $3.7 billion to add 6,200 jobs at three of its Midwest factories in the coming years, it also revealed that a new model is on the way.
The automaker said a new "electric commercial vehicle" will be entering production at its Ohio Assembly Plant sometime mid-decade, but didn't elaborate on what it will be.
The facility currently manufactures F-Series Super Duty and medium duty trucks, but Ford CEO Jim Farley has recently said consumers shouldn't expect them to go electric soon, and that an internal combustion powertrain is better suited to the applications they are meant for.
"If you're a Super Duty customer towing 10,000 pounds in Montana or on the north slope of Alaska, an electric vehicle is an awful solution, the batteries are too heavy," Farley said during at the Bernstein Conference this week.
Ford is expanding its Ohio Assembly Plant to build a commercial electric vehicle. (Ford)
The plant also builds the E-Series cutaway, which used to be offered with a van body and has roots that stretch back to the 1990s, so it's nearing the end of its life cycle. The van model was replaced several years ago by the Transit, which is currently built at Ford's Kansas City factory in Missouri, another site set to expand under the new investment.
The facility currently builds E-Series trucks and F-Series Super Duty and medium duty models. (Ford)
However, Ford added an all-electric E-Transit model this year that's aimed at commercial customers. It's a first-generation electric vehicle that shares its platform with the internal combustion engine Transit, while Ford's future electric vehicles will be purpose-built.
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The E-Transit is built at Ford's Kansas City Assembly Plant (Ford)
Industry analyst firm Auto Forecast Solutions told FOX Business that it projects the new vehicle at the Ohio factory will be the next-generation version of the E-Transit, which it expects to launch for the 2026 model year.
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When asked by FOX Business if the vehicle will be a new E-Transit, a Ford spokesman said, "There’s no other information to share right now beyond what we’ve said."