Ford Motor Co. said Monday it will spend about $5 billion to create a new generation of affordable electric vehicles, a move Chief Executive Officer Jim Farley called the company’s “next Model T moment.” The outlay includes nearly $2 billion to convert its Louisville, Kentucky, assembly plant and $3 billion already earmarked for a battery park in Michigan, together securing or creating close to 4,000 U.S. jobs. At the heart of the plan is a ‘Universal EV Platform’ and an associated production system that splits vehicle assembly into three modules—front, rear and mid-section—before they are joined in final assembly. Ford says the method trims parts by 20 %, fasteners by 25 % and workstations by 40 %, cutting overall build time by roughly 15 %. The vehicles will use U.S.-made lithium-iron-phosphate batteries integrated into the structure of the car and running on a 400-volt architecture. The first model on the platform will be a midsize, four-door electric pickup truck priced at about $30,000 when it reaches showrooms in 2027. The truck will roll out of the retooled Louisville facility, which will retain about 2,200 hourly positions but require roughly 600 fewer workers than the plant’s current configuration because of higher automation. Ford is betting the new manufacturing approach will allow it to match the cost efficiency of Chinese rivals such as BYD and bring its money-losing EV division to profitability within a year of launch. The company lost nearly $10 billion on EVs between 2023 and 2024 and has forecast another multibillion-dollar loss this year. Farley acknowledged the strategy carries risk but said lower-priced, U.S.-built models are essential as federal tax credits expire and competition intensifies.