Not long ago, the “Electric El Dorado” seemed just one battery breakthrough away, and Ford was leading the charge with the zeal of a tech startup. Back in May 2023, Jim Farley was pitching a dream: a three-row electric SUV, a “personal high-speed train” designed to ferry families across 350 miles of American asphalt without a single drop of prehistoric juice.
It was supposed to be the electric sibling to the Explorer, the next logical step after the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning. Fast forward to 2024, and that “bullet train” has been scrapped, dismantled, and turned into a glorified science project.
Ford dumped $400 million into this project, a staggering sum for a vehicle that will now spend its days as a “research vehicle” instead of a showroom superstar. The culprit? A massive shift in the electric vehicle market and the realization that the regulatory “Judgment Day” isn’t coming as fast as the bureaucrats in Brussels or D.C. predicted.
As the F-150 Lightning prepares for a summer production hiatus, Dearborn has decided to repent for its over-optimism. The new strategy? A strategic retreat into the comforting arms of hybrid vehicles and a smaller electric pickup slated for 2027.
The most tragic part of this funeral is the car we’ll never drive. Leaked images from former EV chief Doug Field reveal a silhouette that looked less like a rugged Ford and more like a minimalist Silicon Valley gadget. With its sleek LED signatures and a roofline that defied traditional aerodynamics, it was an iPhone on wheels that promised a 350-mile range. But as Field packs his bags during this latest corporate restructuring, handing the keys to veteran Kumar Galhotra, the dream of a Tesla-flavored Ford SUV has evaporated.
It turns out that while the Mach-E managed to outsell the traditional gas-burning Mustang last year, the American family isn’t quite ready to trade their internal combustion safety net for a $400 million experiment in “personal high-speed” commuting. Welcome back to reality, Ford.
