Ford’s secret EV unit emerges from shadows, still bullish on new pickup amid market slowdown

A Ford employee works inside a high voltage lab at Ford's new Electric Vehicle Development Center in Long Beach, California. Courtesy Ford LONG BEACH, Calif. — As the global automotive industry retreats from all-electric vehicles after reporting billions of dollars in losses, Ford Motor continues to move forward with its next generation of EVs that CEO Jim Farley has described as industry-defining products. Ford's push comes despite a massive slowdown in EV adoption , $19.5 billion in electric vehicle restructuring charges for the company, the elimination of U.S. consumer incentives to buy EVs and the company's leading EV executive abruptly departing. "Agility is key," Ford's EV product leader, Alan Clarke, told CNBC during an interview at the company's new Electric Vehicle Development Center in Long Beach, California. "We've been able to pivot around all the different market conditions. … The EV industry has had massive headwinds, and so we've had to adjust." Ford's continued confidence, albeit it at lower and slower capital rates than it previously projected, comes from its "Universal Electric Vehicle," or UEV platform, which the company has developed from a clean-sheet design. Ford's goal for the UEV is to be profitable and cost-competitive with global EV leaders from China and Tesla . The UEV is expected to be critical to Ford transforming its Model e EV unit from billions of dollars in annual losses to breakeven by 2029. …