Crossovers are America's hottest vehicle segment. But the company recently named America's "most iconic" — Ford Motor Co. — is missing from the segment and is breaking from competitors in approaching the affordable electric vehicle space with a truck, not a crossover.

The Dearborn, Michigan, automaker, which topped Time Magazine's list of iconic American companies in January, ended production of the Escape compact SUV in December to retool its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky for its new EV platform. On that architecture, it's betting on its "Built Ford Tough" truck prowess and the demand it's seen for the gas-powered Maverick to launch a small midsize pickup next year that starts at $30,000. It'll pioneer an EV segment in the United States as competitors like General Motors Co., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and Kia Corp. introduce electric crossovers.

"Ford has a very unique capability, we think, in the pickup truck market," Alan Clarke, advanced EV development's executive director at Ford, said in a recent briefing. "It has the trust of its customers, and therefore has a unique positioning that it should take advantage of to own that space."

Automakers originally approached EVs as affordable commuter cars, but struggled to find buyers. When Tesla Inc. entered the scene, it made EVs a status symbol with fast speeds, advanced technology and luxury features. Competitors followed, targeting their profit-heavy segments like trucks and SUVs. But those require big batteries, which are the most expensive part of the vehicle. Meanwhile, Chinese brands were developing quality vehicles at affordable prices and now are expanding globally, creating an existential threat to legacy companies, Ford CEO Jim Farley has said.

Despite Ford's strengths in trucks that have propelled the F-Series pickups to most-sold vehicle in the United States, crossovers are the choice for many Americans. Vito Dimaggio, 59, of Troy recently traded in his 2019 Ford Escape for his wife to get a Jeep Compass Limited. He's driving her 2018 Ford Escape now, and his son just bought an Escape himself.

"We used it as a trade-in for whatever my wife wanted," he said. "My wife is happy with her Jeep. She will probably put under 1,500 (miles) or less this year, because she doesn't drive much. But hopefully it will last her until I need another vehicle."

Previous frustrations with getting repairs on his newly bought Mustang and facing recalls on vehicles turned them away them from looking at new Fords: "I divorced Ford and said to my wife, 'Buy whatever you want, but no more Ford.'"

Electric pickup trucks have faced challenges in the marketplace. Ford itself last year discontinued the all-electric F-150 Lightning amid a shortage of aluminum because of fires at a supplier and declining demand; it plans to reintroduce the Lightning as an extended-range electric vehicle with an onboard gas engine generator. Sales of the Chevrolet Silverado, GMC Sierra and Hummer EV trucks, as well as Tesla Inc.'s Cybertruck, have also missed expectations.

"It’s kind of baffling in one sense," Ivan Drury, director of insights at automotive research website Edmunds.com Inc., said about launching an electric truck. "For Ford, it seems not that it struck out at the first attempt at an electric, but it was not as successful as it hoped. Lesson learned."

Ford trucks evolved

For more than a decade, Ford has been a leader in trucks, Drury said. It introduced the EcoBoost to push V-8-level power and torque from a smaller, more fuel-efficient engine. It traded in steel for aluminum truck bodies to reduce weight. But with its biggest leap with the Lightning that Farley had called a "Model T moment," it faltered, Drury said. Farley repurposed the line for the new Universal Electric Vehicle platform.

Building off the success it's seen with the Maverick small-to-midsize pickup and the challenges with a heavy and expensive all-electric full-size truck, Ford is taking a "goldilocks approach," Drury said. Full-size trucks dominate the U.S. heartland, while smaller pickups are more popular on the coasts, where EVs are more in-demand.

"This midsize," Drury said, "makes more sense than the full-size ever did."

Rivian Automotive Inc.'s R1T is classified as a midsize truck, though it's larger than a Maverick, to which Ford executives have compared the size of the truck launching next year. The R1T's sales, however, also have fallen, declining by a third year-over-year in the first nine months of 2025.

Troy-based EV startup Slate Auto has said it hopes to launch production of its small "Blank Slate" electric trucks late this summer with a target price of under $30,000. The vehicle is about 25 inches shorter in length than the Maverick, but there's skepticism that a bare-bones vehicle featuring no paint and two doors will gain traction.

Crossovers dominate segment

Meanwhile, crossovers accounted for 52% of the U.S. sales market last year, led by the Toyota RAV4, according to Good Car Bad Car auto sales data. On EVs, the Tesla Model Y is the best-selling electric crossover and the best-selling vehicle globally. Nissan and GM recently launched new sub-$30,000 versions of the Leaf and Bolt, respectively. Kia plans to launch the EV3 this year with a starting price expected to be around $35,000.

"It's very Ford-like to have a truck as a foundation of this platform," said Karl Brauer, executive analyst at automotive search engine iSeeCars.com. "It resonates with the company's history and its image. There’s already more than enough small electric SUVs to fill demand. But no small electric truck. Ford will be the only one."

Clarke acknowledged crossovers are the "heart of the market."

"It's also the most competitive part of the market," he said, "and it's full of a million compliance vehicles that will exist in that timeframe. So, it doesn't always pay off to go with the rest of the crowd."

He also emphasized that Ford's new Universal Electric Vehicle platform can support multiple "top hats." The company, however, hasn't disclosed what or how many there will be.

"We want to be flexible," Clarke said. "We want to go to where the market is."

The company hasn't been subtle about going after consumers of popular crossovers with the forthcoming electric midsize truck. Materials about the vehicles have noted that it will have more passenger room than the current RAV4.

"Entry-level electric vehicles are going to do very well," said Rhett Ricart, a dealer in Columbus, Ohio. "Full-size luxury trucks, they're going to be slower. Anybody that can afford a $100,000, that's going to be the choice of the consumer. An entry-level EV is something people can put their kid in and send them to college with a 300-mile range and a $199 payment a month."

Will consumers follow?

Whether consumers will be willing to make the move to a small truck from a crossover is another question. Ford has emphasized the success of the Maverick in pulling non-truck buyers into the fold.

"We think that’s a real opportunity for us," said Erich Merkle, Ford's head of U.S. sales analysis. U.S. sales of the Maverick XL, the base trim level for the truck, were up 16% year-over-year in February compared to a 1% increase for the nameplate overall.

"We have Maverick that's transacting in that range and controls the segment," Eddie Stivers, president of E.M. Stivers Inc., which has Ford dealerships in states like Alabama, Georgia, Arizona and Iowa, said regarding the price range of the Escape. Maverick "controls the segment, and all our competitors are jealous about it."

That Ford gets to create a vehicle segment again after Maverick with the UEV excites him as a Ford dealer, he added.

As Escape owners face increasingly limited options following the discontinuation of the crossover, the market may provide some sense of where consumers are going. In the first two months of 2026, 16% of Escape trade-ins went for an Escape again, according to Edmunds. Bronco Sport took 11% followed by the Explorer with 5.6% and then Maverick with 3.5%.

"If they didn’t have the Bronco Sport, they wouldn’t be doing this," Brauer said. "The Bronco Sport is maybe not totally, but largely will cover what they lose from the Escape in volume and share. They seem committed to this low-cost electric vehicle platform and what they think it’s going to be capable of. They probably thought, 'We don’t need two very similar internal combustion engine vehicles, but a newer, more appealing image. We can take the resources and work on the electric one.' "

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