Today’s Morning Dump is going to be a little different, because rather than simply answering your questions about the state of the automotive industry I’m going to be asking you all for a little help. This is because the $30k Ford EV being designed by Ford’s Skunkworks lab is going to be out-and-about testing this summer and I’ve got it on good authority that most you have little rectangles with cameras connected to the web in your pockets.
Would you like to be able to repair your own vehicle? The automotive industry met with President Trump last week and asked the President, along with Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, and were allegedly against it. While legislators in the United States weigh whether or not to make it easier to repair your own car, the Chinese government is trying to get automakers to slim down their big batteries.
Hagerty is once again hosting the Festival of the Unexceptional and, while we won’t have a SsangYong there, I have to credit the organizers for highlighting a car I never knew existed. I love getting stumped.
I Am Very Curious What This Looks Like
The Ford Maverick was a bit of a revelation when it first went on sale. An extremely affordable, handsome and supremely efficient unibody truck was apparently the vehicle a huge chunk of the market wanted. It’s one of my favorite vehicles of the last ten years and one that I kinda still wish I’d bought. I had a friend who put a deposit down on the no-options $19,990 XL Hybrid and ended up not doing it. If I’d have taken it I probably could have sold my Forester for about as much money (this was the height of pandemic used car inflation). Oh well.
Will I feel the same way about the $30,000 Ford?
Here’s the best photo I’ve seen of it, which comes from DT’s visit. David also noted something interesting from his trip to the lab where this is being developed:
Off to the side I noticed a late 1960s Ford Escort rally car. What was that doing in the design studio? I have no idea, but I’m going to dream that it is somehow being used as inspiration for the new truck’s design.
Now, courtesy of the Detroit Free Press, we have this little bit of information:
About the EV pickup, House said the first vehicle off Ford’s newly developed Universal Electric Vehicle platform, an all-electric midsize pickup aimed to start at about $30,000, is ready for launch and prototypes of it are being made in Michigan and tested on roads.
Ford spokesman Dave Tovar clarified that while the prototype are “out in the wild” right now, they are not yet on Michigan roads, but they will be in the next few weeks.
Remember, the Ford Maverick took some design cues from the original Ford Maverick, so it’s not impossible for the ’60s Escort to maybe play some small role in the design here. So here’s may ask: If you see this thing testing in Michigan, or Colorado, or California, or any of the places Ford normally tests vehicles, please send us a photo to tips@theautopian.com and maybe we’ll send you something as thanks.
As always, with prototype cars, there are a few guidelines:
- If the cars are moving, or you are moving, please exercise extreme care. Getting photos of a heavily camo’d car is never worth putting anyone in danger. It’s also not worth following someone around, because test drivers are people, too, and that’s creepy. Don’t creep anyone out.
- If the car is parked and on a public street, you have the right to take photos, but if any of the test drivers or engineers ask you to leave please give them space. This is a fun, friendly thing, and not corporate espionage. If the employees in the car are in a good mood, please feel free to ask them questions and transmit those answers back to us, but always be polite.
- Don’t open any doors or touch anything. Not only is that illegal, it’s also not fun. This should be fun!
I know our readers are sharp-eyed, so I’m looking forward to seeing what you find.
President Trump: ‘They have a thing; Nobody’s Allowed To Fix Their Car’
I probably assumed that it would be fun, in a Chauncey Gardiner sort of way, if the President just said whatever came to his mind. In practice, it turns out this isn’t always a great time. Still, there are moments when it is amusing and edifying, and that happened last week when a bunch of representatives from the automotive industry met with President Trump.
After a string of victories for advocates of right-to-repair laws that allow end users/owners to access the necessary software and information to fix their own vehicles, it seems as though the automotive industry is a little nervous about those laws. Specifically, the House has the REPAIR Act, which exists to:
[E]nsure consumers have access to data relating to motor vehicles of the consumers and critical repair information and tools for such motor vehicles, to provide such consumers with choices for the maintenance, service, and repair of such vehicles, and for other purposes.
According to Reuters, GM’s Mary Barra, Andrew Frick from Ford, some folks from the NADA and Alliance for Automotive Innovation, plus very industry-aligned Senator Bernie Moreno met with President Trump to explain why it’s important for manufacturers to do vehicle repairs. Here’s how President Trump described the meeting:
“We had the auto industry in yesterday. They don’t want people to fix their car. I said, ‘That’s strange!’” Trump said. “They have a thing; nobody’s allowed to fix their car.”
Sadly, Ford, GM, and others refused to comment on this. That’s a little funny, though? The industry contends that it has made the necessary tools available to dealers and independent repairers. The dealers seem to be concerned that giving repair shops data will allow them to produce knockoffs and give too much power to insurance companies to influence repair decisions.
Who is telling the truth here?
China Continues To Speed-Run Modernity
Chinese consumers maybe aren’t that different from everyone else. While there are many, many more small urban electric cars than there are here, car companies keep making larger and larger vehicles and people keep buying them. The difference is that Chinese regulators seem to be doing something about this.
China wants slimmer electric vehicles after years of bigger batteries and rising demand for space and features helped make passenger cars significantly larger and heavier, state broadcaster China Central Television reported on Sunday.
The average passenger car in the country weighed 1,704 kilograms (3,757 pounds) in 2024, weighing about a third more than in 2012, the report said. Family EVs have also grown wider over the years, with many popular sport utility vehicles and multipurpose vehicles now approaching or exceeding 2 meters (6.5 feet) in width.
More power, more range, more luxury equipment. It’s great to see our friends on the other side of the world embracing our norms.
What Is A Kia Clarus Wagon?
The Brits do the “Hagerty Festival of the Unexceptional” as a sort of send up of Goodwood and similar Concours-type events, and it’s always a good time. You can get tickets for the next one here, which is happening at Grimsthorpe Castle on Saturday, July 25th. There’s some great crap coming, including a vehicle they honestly could have just made up to fool me:
In the text submitted in the Concours entry form for this Kia Clarus Wagon, the owner states that they’re almost completely forgotten, with just three estates and twelve saloons left in the Netherlands, where it’ll be making the journey from this year. Never mind “forgotten”, we didn’t realise they did an estate version of the Clarus in the first place. The other cars on the Concours lawn will have to try hard to match the Kia’s level of anonymity.
Ok, so it’s not just me.
What I’m Listening To While Writing TMD
I’ve been enjoying the music of Elizabeth Nichols and “Paul Revere” is full of the kind of twangy humor I expect from her.
The Big Question
Have you ever seen a camo’d car? Do you see them where you live?
Top photo: Ford/Marvel Comics
I used to see a lot of camo’ed cars when I lived in the LA suburbs. Not so many when I was in Texas, or now in Oregon.
I am an engineer at a large OEM and work on new programs. seeing the future stuff way before anyone else is the fun part of my job 🙂
That’s one of the things I miss the most.
That and access to free cars and a test track.
The Festival of the Unexceptional is right at the top of my automotive event bucket list. I love mint condition time capsules that aren’t collectibles.
Yes, I see camoed test vehicles where I live. See them also every day.
I also see our own vehicles about 3 years before the public and photograph them years before the camo comes off.
Automakers are against The Repair Act because it requires them to give 3rd parties over the air access to your car and that is just multiple levels stupid.
It also requires open access to ECUs and base code which is also a very bad idea.
Eddie’s been on it for weeks!
Just wanted to know if you know where they are testing the new vehicle just go but the nearest big city Ford Dealership. It’s unlikely a new union built Ford will go 20 miles with out needed car repairs.
So it isn’t Americans who want bigger and faster we just have the money to do it?
Everybody that visits the Autopian is against owners not being able to work on their own cars. Trump also supports this, I assume this whole site comes out in less than a week against owners bc being able to work on their cars. Prison time if you try.
I had a 1974 Ford Maverick it looks nothing like that pickup
You know, it’s possible to agree with someone on one topic while disagreeing with them or thinking they’re reprehensible because of their thoughts or actions on other things. A broken clock is right twice a day…
Who is telling the truth here? Not the lobbyists.
Summer is coming and that means hot weather testing. Death Valley and Mojave Desert, CA here I come.
“Have you ever seen a camo’d car? Do you see them where you live?”
Yes and yes.
Car companies do test in Colorado and in particular they seemed to like Coal Creek Canyon where my parents lived for about 20 years. Now I’m in Arizona and still see periodically.
I see plenty of camo’d cars in rural Ohio. Typically lifted XJ Cherokees or GMT400s
“Have you ever seen a camo’d car?”
Well, no…since it was camo’d. Ha ha
The front end of that BYD SUV looks like it was the inspiration for the Autopian username icons.
I know I’m just getting old and cantankerous but I have a hard time hearing this new thing and the maverick called trucks, I’m looking at you too Corolla cross based truck, these feel like sedans that they said we can save some money on trunk carpet if we just call it a truck.
At the same time, I’m excited to see this new Ford I guess. I hope the transit connect replacement is the next skunkworks vehicle they release.
I have seen my fair share of camo’d cars working in the industry on the manufacturing side. Ive even driven a few of them, you get some funny looks from people on the road. I’ll have to keep an eye on my local charging station. It is a typical stop for the Big 3 EVs during validation testing coming out of the Detroit area. I’ve seen everything from the F150 Lightning, Mach E, Charger, Equinox, Escalade IQ and Blazer EV charging there in various states of camo. My favorite was when I was also in a vehicle on M plates and the GM guys got a little nervous seeing me stop, get out and take pictures of their stuff charging. I just needed to run to Walmart, and it was my week with the Factory build out SUV.
Having worked for 2 auto suppliers, camoed up cars is an everyday occurrence although most of them are just An Car. It’s always neat to see the occasional non-USDM bound test mule, vehicles that are hyped up months or a year plus before it’s in showrooms, or the 14th consecutive facelift of the Pacifica.
I saw a camo’ed car with a bunch of sensor stuff hanging off the back (it looked like an Audi) going up pikes peak in the summer of 2018.
I work in R&D for a big truck manufacturer so yes I see camo vehicles on a daily basis and drive the big ole crappy zebra’s on a daily basis. Have also seen ones for other manufacturers as some of them test their vehicles here or we bring them in for comparison testing.
“Don’t creep anyone out.”
I can’t promise I’ll try. But I’ll try to try.
I occasionally see a camo painted suv around here. I think it’s some early Hyundai model. Paint looks like it was done with a roller.
The driver who I’ve seen once was dressed in full camo as well. We do have some characters up the haller.
Don’t see many camo’d cars in my area, but I did see some when I was in Colorado, including a bunch of Wranglers being driven by Jeep engineers that were staying at my hotel. Wasn’t even that tempted to go peek under the cladding they had on some of them because, come on, it’s a Wrangler. You already know what it looks like. 😉
I touched a camo car once. It felt kinda Puffalumpy.
Camo’d cars – I see them very rarely here in SWVA. When I was in Evergreen, CO I saw them tons. They’d come up the canyon from Morrison, then up and over the road to
Mt Evans Mt Blue Sky.Hyundai sold the Elantra Wagon in the USA in the 1990’s which appears to be a platform sister of the Kia Clarus Wagon.
https://www.carspecs.us/cars/1995/hyundai/elantra/3540
My high school biology teacher had a black one, but then he was an odd character even for an Englishman.