If you’re not excited about Ford’s upcoming Universal EV platform — which Ford developed secretly at its west coast Skunkworks with the goal of offering a competitive sub-$30,000 compact pickup truck among other frugal EV options — you should be. I just got an exclusive up-close look at the little electric pickup dressed in camo at a Long Beach park — it is way smaller than you think. And that’s awesome!
Rejoice, world! For far too long, we have had to deal with the scourge of ever-growing pickup trucks. Every time a new generation of a truck comes out, we learn that it’s longer, wider, and taller.
The old Ford Ranger, for example, looks like it had a few too many cheeseburgers between the early 2000s and now:
I’m pumped. Not only is Ford finally bringing back a tiny pickup truck — one seemingly even smaller than the Maverick, which itself is larger than the old Ranger — but the brand is going to offer it in EV form at a relatively reasonable price point. I’m amped, and ever since touring The Blue Oval’s skunkworks facility, I have been excited to learn more about what the thing will look like.
Well, The Autopian now has the best idea of any publication on the internet thanks to these spy shots that Autopian video manager Griffin and I took. Let’s first start with this horrible photo I took of the an old Ford Ranger tailing Ford’s prototype (OK, technically it’s the Mazda version of the Ranger, but you get the idea). It’s not that easy to tell the scale, but look at the Mazda and look at the F-150 ahead, and it’ll be clear that the new Ford EV is tiny:
Now let’s get to the nice shots; let’s first check out the side profile without getting too distracted with camouflage that looks like wrapping paper for a baby gift (seriously, I see soccer balls, teddy bears, sailboats, hearts, painters trays, bicycles, hearts… my 14-month baby would love this); Ford has some fabric covers obscuring the shape of the vehicle’s nose and its cab, but the rear does look nice and squared off. I’m standing on a 6″ curb there, to give you a sense of scale:
The windshield looks quite raked, the ground clearance looks modest, and the wheels look fairly small for a modern EV. The second row looks fairly large (at the expense of bed length — if I had to guess, that’s a 4-ft bed), and the wheels appear to have aero-caps. This is definitely a street-focused truck meant to optimize range. I just hope it doesn’t look too soft at the nose like the first-gen Honda Ridgeline.
Look at the size of the two adults in the front of the truck in the image above; that should give you an idea of just how small this thing is.
It’s really hard to distinguish the shapes on the truck’s body due to that camo; turns out, my son’s wrapping paper is absolute gas as car-camo. There appears to be some kind of something jutting out from the bedsides.
Speaking of the bed, that’s how it looks inside. It’s modestly-sized, but can probably easily fit a Ford 289 V8 longblock.
While the taillights are just little rectangular cutouts in the “wrapping paper,” I can see a bit of the headlight lenses through the camo, though in truth, I can’t really learn anything of value through that netting. I can tell you that appears to be a small grille opening built into the bumper, and is that a radar sensor in the center of the grille? There appears to be a piece of tape over the center of it, so maybe not. Above that center…thing… is what appears to be a front camera. Man Ford did a great job on this camo; I’m grasping at straws here.
The big thing is scale. America appears to be about to get its first-ever small, affordable, practical electric pickup truck, and I’m far, far, far too excited.
I just like small pickups, is all. I drive a Jeep Comanche around LA, and I regularly think to myself: This is perfect. An electric small pickup truck, especially a four-door? It could be the ultimate daily driver.
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Check out the video I shot above to see a bit more of Ford’s Universal EV Platform EV pickup truck.
Perhaps this is also the Falcon Ute that Farley’s been hinting about since March
I’m genuinely excited for this thing.
I hope the dolphins on the sides make it through to the production version
Honestly , this is how Ford or any other American car company are going to get butts in electric cars. Keep the vehicles simple, light(ish), and inexpensive. The arms race for power in electric vehicles is pretty nonsensical for most buyers. Make it simple, quick enough for daily driving and decent range.
It was fun watching how joyful David was filming this. More joy, please.
Mass market appeal? My guess is yes. Useful for me? Not even close. Commuter? Sure. But I have a fleet of bicycles for that. Hauler? Nope.
Once upon a time I had a Chevy LUV (Isuzu) pickup. Small diesel single cab with an 8′ bed. And real TRUCK tires on it. Six ply. I carried over 1500 pounds regularly. Big bale of hay? No problem. OSB to build the new kitchen? Sure. No issues there.
This thing? Meh. But for what I want I now have an F350. Big diesel. Eight and a half foot bed. The house I’m going to build will require about 60 sheets of half inch OSB for the wall sheathing. Moby Dick can haul that in one trip.
That slate truck better be cheap…
That something jutting out from the rear bed sides is part of the camo – it’s intended to help mask the body shape.
There’s always something cool in Long Beach.
I’d rather have 2 doors and a longer bed. 4 feet isn’t a truck bed. Should be 6 feet to be actually useful for anything besides groceries or luggage. With a bed that short, just buy an SUV.
“sub-$30,000” = $35,500 average dealer lot price, 40k OTD.
If I had a dollar for every recall these will have, I might be able to afford one.
OK, I’m offically excited. Hopefully it’ll have better quality than their recent vehicles.
They’ve poured a lot of money into boosting their quality under Jim Farley. They have straightened out the 10 speed, the 3.5 and the 2.0 engines in that time and managed to launch the Explorer without issue so I’m holding out hope for this one. I have a first edition Mach E which had some teething pains but Ford recalled everything that was a problem and it’s been a really solid ride. I may jump on this truck if the back seat is good for a car seat
I learned to drive in a regular cab Tacoma, and currently drive a Lightning. This feels like me, gonna seriously consider this as an alternative to buying out the Lightning at the end of my lease
Folks saying things like the roof is too low or the bed rails are too high:
That’s the camo doing it’s job.
If you look carefully, you can see that the window line is a couple inches lower than the camo. One can also see that the bed sides are a little bit higher than the actual inner side rails – and those strange linear lumps on the side are camo bits hiding the actual bed upper sides.
The front of the vehicle is very likely going to be more aerodynamic than what we see here – and possibly other current Ford trucks. If it wound up looking more like a 90’s F-Series than the current bluff-fronted trucks it would not surprise me.
However if you’re expecting something Ford Courier size – you’ll be disappointed.
It’s smaller than a current Ranger for sure, but it’s definitely not going to be “tiny”
Seems to me that the only thing making this a “Truck” is that it will have an open bed. It could just as easily been designed with a fastback hatch and been called a “sedan” a-la Polestar 2, Ford Capri EV, etc.
That seems to be the plan. The first vehicle on the platform will be the truck, with others to follow.
According to the graphics from Ford – The others to follow will be a 2 row SUV, a 2 row “coupe” SUV, and a three row SUV.
I’d be very surprised if Ford built a sedan on this.
Updated Mach E incoming…
Now the question is whether they can manufacture this vehicle with fewer quality defects than Ford’s recent track record. One of the biggest issues with the Maverick was that it was a great idea, but the quality of the truck I received was middling at best. If they can produce it with decent quality materials, bolt it together with some modicum of fit and finish, and paint it with something other than an asthmatic rattle can, it may be great!
Would it hurt…. to have a 6 foot bed?
… or no back seat?
Although in their defense… Ford knows more than anyone what features truck buyers want….
I agree with you said ,however they must think we all want recalls as part of us buying a Ford product , we don’t.
To be fair, many of the recalls are just firmware and/or can be done in Your driveway in 10 minutes.
Ford directly cited the RAV4’s interior capacity back in August during the event in Kentucky, claiming the T3 was superior. This likely indicates they view it as a Sport Utility Vehicle that happens to have a bed to attract customers, like the Maverick, rather than a dedicated body-on-frame work truck. Same logic for why it wouldn’t be surprising to see a four-door Mustang down the road.
There is a four door Mustang. The Mach E, so I guess you’re right. It’s not surprising.
As a Mach E driver, I kind of get why Mustang guys hate the comparison. I in no way cross shopped it with the regular mustang and would likely never buy one. But the Mach E is an *excellent* choice in the electric crossover range so I went with it
I already drive a four door mustang
since the camo extends down to the bed at the back of the cab, could have a midgate? Add in a dropped tailgate, and could be upwards of 8 feet of flat area behind the front seats.
Do they even make the Ranger with a 6ft bed?
Unfortunately, no.
6 foot is overkill for most people. I have a 5′-2″ bed in my truck and there’s nothing I can’t haul, including my emtb, full sheets of 4×8′ sheets and 12′ lumber.
Are we calling this a pickup because there isn’t a lid on the trunk of this high-waisted compact sedan?
I’m all for smaller, more affordable/accessible vehicles, especially EVs, but this doesn’t seem so much a pickup as their return to making sedans, like they’ve been talking about.
Then again, maybe I’m just salty about the tall bedsides. I hate that look. It makes it look like a chop-top hot rod and not in a good way.
Funny thing is 60 years ago they turned a car into a truck, now we are turning a truck into a car. Seemingly easier to stretch something than to shrink it, but what do I know.
Here come the copycat articles…
https://www.carscoops.com/2026/06/ford-electric-pickup-prototype/
Honestly, this is a really good thing for The Autopian because David/Griffin own the rights to all the pictures. In this instance, they even have the section saying,
These aggregated stories will bring even more eyeballs to a website we all love, and hopefully, it will help convert a bunch of new people either into loyal readers or even velour-level members!
Also that watermark is just awesome.
Probably Torch’s work.
(it was and thanks)
Glad to see it as well.
Sadly, I don’t think this thing will make it to production with that warped crossword puzzle paint job. I keep getting disappointed by that swerve over and over.
You know what we need? We need a “Where’s Waldo?” paint option for all cars and trucks!