Fast Facts | Ford Fathom
🛻 Name Reveal: Ford's midsize electric pickup, built on the new Universal Electric Vehicle platform, will be called Fathom
💰Price: The price was confirmed to start at $29,945 MSRP, including a $1,595 destination fee
🔍 Name Speculation: Ford considered reviving the Ranchero name but ultimately chose Fathom instead
🖥️ Tech: The Fathom will use Apple Maps for navigation, charge routing, and the next-gen BlueCruise
🗓️ Availability: Pre-orders will open in early 2027, but delivery timing hasn't been announced yet
What Ford Has Confirmed and What It Has Not
It’s been almost a year since Ford CEO Jim Farley stood in front of a crowd of employees at the Louisville assembly plant and announced the factory would be completely retooled to build a new midsize electric pickup with a $30,000 starting price. In recent months, I've had the chance to visit Ford’s new EV Development Center in Long Beach, learn more about the company's new Universal Electric Vehicle architecture, and catch a few spy photos of prototypes. Now, Ford has announced the truck will be called Fathom, and it'll be priced from $29,945, including a $1,595 destination fee.
Ford’s low-cost truck depends on a new platform, zonal electronics, structural batteries, and a radically simplified production process, so go inside the engineering program behind Ford’s next Model T moment ➜
Ranchero Rumors Were Wrong
There’s been plenty of online speculation about what Ford would call its new electric trucklet, with the consensus betting on a revived name from the company’s history, as they did with the Maverick. Ranchero was the top guess. The original Ranchero was a car-based pickup similar to the Chevrolet El Camino, produced between 1957 and 1979. Speculation picked up after Ford applied to renew the Ranchero trademark last August, right around the time the whole program was announced.
How Ford Landed on Fathom
While Ranchero was reportedly considered, the team ultimately went a different direction. Ford's UEV development group, nicknamed the Skunk Works after Lockheed's famous experimental division behind planes like the U-2, SR-71 and F-117 stealth fighter, spent a lot of time figuring out what it would really take to build an affordable, modern EV, and what people actually need from their vehicles.
That's how the team landed on Fathom. One meaning of the verb "fathom" is to penetrate and understand. We’ll have to wait a while to see whether the team really understands what consumers want, but so far, things look very promising.
Size, Space, and Shape
Based on images of prototypes out testing, the Fathom is clearly truck-shaped (unlike a certain other electric truck on the market) and it’s roughly the size of Ford’s already-popular Maverick. Ford claims the Fathom will offer more passenger volume than the Toyota RAV4, which has 98.9 cubic feet. The Maverick comes in at 100.3 cubic feet, so the Fathom is likely to land somewhere close to that. Combined the bed and the frunk, and the Fathom should beat the RAV4 on total cargo volume, too.
Ford announced last week that the Fathom will use Apple Maps for its navigation, charge routing, and its next-generation BlueCruise hands-free drive-assist system.
Embedded navigation can use battery level, terrain, weather, charger locations, and preconditioning to improve road-trip planning, so see how EV navigation and charging-route tools work ➜
The camera and radar suite that powers BlueCruise will be standard on every Fathom, following the pattern Tesla set by making Autopilot hardware standard across its whole lineup.
Hands-free assistance still requires the driver to watch traffic, while eyes-off automation changes both capability and responsibility, so see where Level 2 and Level 3 driving systems stand in 2026 ➜
A Price Under $30,000
The Fathom's starting sticker price is $28,350, just $205 more than the Maverick Hybrid. With its lower $1,595 destination charge, the out-the-door base price comes in just under the Maverick's. Ford plans to open pre-orders for the Fathom in early 2027, though it’s not yet clear when deliveries will start. With an expected 300-mile range, seating for five (although it may be closer to four), a dealer network for support, a surprising amount of technology for the price, and a delivered price of just $3,545 more than the stripped-down Slate, the upstart is in for a real challenge if Ford can actually execute and deliver with the Fathom.
More on Ford’s Affordable EV Gamble
Ford’s Secret California Outpost Where It’s Rethinking Its EV Strategy
Tour the Long Beach development center where Ford is bringing design, software, fabrication, and vehicle testing closer together.
Read More ➜
Small EV Pickups: The Next Big Thing
Compare the emerging field of compact and midsize electric trucks designed to provide useful capability without full-size dimensions or prices.
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Meet Slate: First American EV Pickup Truck for $20K
Slate takes a radically simpler approach with a two-seat electric truck, modular accessories, and an entry price below Ford’s current target.
Read More ➜
