According to Ford, the renovation of the Louisville assembly plant in Kentucky is progressing as planned, and the plant is expected to be in production condition by 2027 and to begin production for sale for less than $30,000 for Fathom pure electrical medium-sized pickup cards. The car will also be the first type of car on the Ford Generation General Electric platform.
2027.
According to Ford, Fathom is expected to start production of the prototype in the first quarter of 2027, and the customer-oriented volume car will be launched later that year. The company is now testing production tools and equipment for near-volume production before the prototype vehicle is off-line.
Two years ago, Ford closed the plant and dismantled the traditional water assembly line, which had been running for more than a hundred years, to rebuild the entire manufacturing system. The company hopes to build a new generation of electric vehicles that are less costly and suitable for large-scale production.
Change to a three-branch assembly system.
The new system was developed by the Ford internal new project team, headed by former Tesla executive Alan Clarke. Ford called it a “universal production system”. Unlike traditional straight-line assembly, the new programme uses three-branch assembly structures.
Of these, the front and back parts of the vehicle will be assembled on two separate feeder lines. Ford will also use large, integrated aluminium castings to reduce the number of spare parts. The third feeder is responsible for the assembly of structural batteries, as well as parts such as chairs, middle control and carpets, which are eventually combined at the end of the line into a whole vehicle.
The goal is to speed up and press low.
Ford states that, in net efficiency terms, Fathom will be assembled at 15 per cent faster than the model previously produced at the Louisville plant. During the plant ' s renovation, the plant ' s Wi-Fi coverage density was also nearly tripled to 1080 access points to support high bandwidth and low-time connection for software quality testing.
For Ford, this retrofit is about improving profitability in its electric car operations. The company's previous motor vehicle project had been a drag on profits, while Chinese car companies and Tesla had already led the way in scalable sales and profitability.
Ford further indicated that some of its staff had been trained for months at the Allen Parker New Car Project Development Centre in Michigan to prepare for the introduction of the new production system.