Ford targets 100,000 first-year sales for new $30,000 Fathom electric truck

EV sales fell 48% in August after federal tax credit expired

The Fathom, which Ford has positioned as a mass-market entry rather than a premium offering, will start around $30,000 — roughly the price of a mainstream sedan or SUV and well below the $50,000-and-up price tags common among earlier U.S. electric vehicles. Ford will begin taking customer orders early next year, with first deliveries expected in 2027.

The company has said the Fathom’s platform — the structural foundation on which different vehicle models can be built — will support a range of vehicle types and high volumes. The Louisville assembly line was built from scratch for the new truck.

If Ford hits its first-year target, the Fathom would instantly become one of the top-selling EVs in the U.S., surpassing every non-Tesla model on the market. Tesla sold about 357,000 Model Y SUVs last year and more than 190,000 Model 3 sedans, the only single-model volumes that have crossed the 100,000-unit threshold in a single U.S. year. General Motors sold nearly 170,000 all-electric vehicles in 2025, but across three different brands.

The company’s earlier electric offerings, including an electric version of its F-150 pickup, often sold well within their respective segments but never reached the volumes of its gasoline and hybrid models, and racked up billions of dollars in losses along the way. Ford halted production of the electric F-150 Lightning late last year.

Chief Executive Jim Farley has said those vehicles had more parts and higher costs than electric vehicles require. The Fathom, he has said, is designed with fewer components and will be assembled through a manufacturing process that has been overhauled to keep costs in check. He has called the truck Ford’s new “Model T moment.” A Ford spokesman declined to comment on volume projections for the Fathom.

The bet lands in a contracting market. After the $7,500 federal EV tax credit was phased out, EVs represented 5.7% of all U.S. vehicle sales in August, down from 10.3% a year earlier when the credit was due to expire, according to Motor Intelligence. Overall U.S. EV sales fell 48% year-over-year in August, the firm said. The projected 2027 sales target illustrates the scale of Ford’s wager at a moment when U.S. EV demand has waned following policy changes by the Trump administration and Congress.

Ford executives say the Fathom’s $30,000 price range will help it reach buyers who passed on higher-priced electric models. The truck’s design is intended to appeal to drivers of both EVs and gasoline vehicles, with more passenger space than a Toyota RAV4 — one of the top-selling crossover SUVs in the U.S. — and technology including Apple Maps built into the navigation system and Ford’s BlueCruise hands-free driving system.

Andrew Frick, president of Ford’s electric- and gas-vehicle divisions, said in a recent interview that the company believes it will attract gasoline-powered and hybrid owners to the Fathom. “Our total addressable market is much bigger than just the EV under $40,000,” Frick said.

Wall Street analysts and some Ford dealers have questioned whether the Fathom will hit its goal. EV sales have declined sharply since the federal tax credit expired, and Ford executives have said the truck will feature technology designed to compete with upstart Chinese automakers. Executives have pointed to the Fathom’s lower price and simplified manufacturing as the levers that will set it apart.

The Fathom’s first full year of sales will fall in 2027, the same year customer orders open, with production and sales expected to increase beyond that initial year, according to people familiar with the matter.