Ford

Ford's new electric truck gets a sub-$30,000 starting price (even with delivery). The Detroit automaker also revealed the pickup's name: the Fathom. The truck is important for Ford: It's the first of a new lineup of EVs built on a new platform. Ford has been very secretive about its all-important new slate of EVs . That's starting to change. The Detroit automaker confirmed to Business Insider that its next EV, a midsize truck, will be called the Fathom. The company also said it will have a starting price of $28,350 — or $29,945 after destination charges.

Both the name and pricing are a big departure from Ford's recent EV efforts. The company's first generation of mass-market EVs — including the Mustang Mach-E and the F-150 Lightning — were named after iconic, nostalgic Ford vehicles. They also had sticker prices ranging from roughly $38,000 to around $90,000. Fathom is a new nameplate for Ford. The sub-$30,000 starting price will also put the new EV in striking distance of the coming no-frills Slate truck . Fathom is the result of a Skunkworks program that the company launched in 2022, which aimed at building simpler electric cars after Ford lost billions of dollars on its first generation of EV products.

Unlike the standard assembly line that Ford adopted in the early 1900s, the next generation of EVs will adopt an "assembly tree" production system. The company will build the EV's front, rear, and structural battery-and-interior sections on three separate lines before joining them.