I Can Hardly Fathom It
This Is Not The Ford Fathom
I watch a lot of YouTube videos.
ICYMI: Last week, Nicholas Carlson, the CEO of Dynamo and regular personality on the Business Explains The World YouTube channel, published a fantastic video on “How Chinese Cars Got So Good They're BANNED In America”.
He explains a lot of what you probably already know.
He told the usual story of how joint ventures between Chinese, American, and European automakers helped teach Chinese OEMs how to build cars, but he added an important twist to his retelling.
Nicholas argues that Apple may have helped more than American and European automakers in enabling Chinese brands to become so good at making cars, especially electric cars, so quickly.
He points the finger at Foxconn, Apple’s chosen hardware manufacturing partner, and explains how Foxconn engineers were recruited out of iPhone City by Tesla to build Gigafactory Shanghai.
Many of those engineers went on to help build out automotive manufacturing capacity for companies like Geely, Chery, BYD, and Xiaomi.
Also, it might all be Tim Cook’s fault for signing a deal with Foxconn to build Jony Ive’s iMac back in 1998 (yes, the same Jony Ive who Ferrari hired to design the Luce, which recently sold out in China).
Fast forward to 2026: American and European automakers are trying to figure out how to catch up to China without the advantage of Apple, Foxconn, Tesla, or the hard-won Chinese know-how.
Meanwhile, we are experiencing a seismic shift in global auto brand performance.
Toyota is seeing sales declines globally.
VW is in the middle of a literal family feud.
Spoiler alert: they won't be able to catch up.
China has exploded a car bomb on the world (maybe that’s a bad analogy, oh well).
Chinese brands shipped 1.1 million cars overseas in June 2026, 70% more than in June 2025.
If that trajectory holds, it suggests that China, already the world’s largest exporter of vehicles, could easily beat earlier forecasts of shipping 10 million vehicles overseas by the end of this year.
Jim Farley Enters The Chat
Ford is taking the Tesla-inspired gift that Doug Field gave it, the “Universal Electric Vehicle,” or UEV, platform, and betting the house that they can hold off the Chinese threat with a new, as-yet-unseen truck called the Fathom.
Ford CEO Jim Farley appears to be simultaneously elated and terrified of how the Fathom will be received by customers and by Ford dealers who have long memories and weren’t happy about the whole Model E debacle.
On a recent LinkedIn post, Jim said, “The first vehicle on Ford Motor Company Universal Electric Vehicle Platform is unlike anything we’ve built before. New electric architecture. New manufacturing process. Designed to be affordable, innovative and truly fun to drive. Fathom is our new midsize electric pickup and I’m so proud of our design, engineering and manufacturing teams for what they've created. They've reimagined how a vehicle comes together, innovating to reduce parts, improve aero, cut complexity and lower costs and create an interior cabin and driving experience customers will love. Can’t wait for people to experience it!”
But he’s also recently been quoted as saying, “There are no guarantees with this project. We're doing so many new things; I can't tell you with 100% certainty that this will all go just right; it is a bet. There is risk.”
Preorders for the $30,000 five-passenger Fathom will begin in early 2027 and will include, of all things, Apple Maps onboard.
Ford is really excited about their new assembly line. So excited, they can’t stop talking about the Universal Electric Vehicle Platform.
They say the goal for the UEV platform is for each vehicle built on the system to be profitable within a year of launch and cost-competitive with global EV leaders in China and Tesla.
I really hope that Jim thanked Doug Field.
Partying Like It’s 2022
This Is All Very Familiar
Ford’s press release and Jim’s talking points sounded familiar.
Back in 2022, Ford was really excited about its newly updated factory and the fancy new electric truck it was going to build there.
And the ghost of press releases past sounded like this:
“Today marks the launch of the all-new, electric F-150 Lightning pickup – a milestone moment in America’s shift to electric vehicles.
F-150 Lightning trucks are now being built for customers across America. F-150 Lightning is the fastest-accelerating F-150 yet and the only full-size electric pickup available now with a starting price less than $40,000.
Built at the ultra-modern Rouge Electric Vehicle Center within Ford’s historic Rouge Complex, F-150 Lightning is the only electric vehicle that is Built Ford Tough. Ford F-Series has been America’s best-selling truck for 45 years in a row1 and is second only to the iPhone in revenue among all American consumer products, according to a 2020 study.”
Let’s break that down.
Brag about the new factory… check.
Mention how cheap it’s gonna be… check.
Talk about how this is a revolution in EV manufacturing… check.
Include reference to iconic Apple product… check.
Did they read the old press release before they wrote the new one?
Signs point to no.
IMHO
Don’t get me wrong, I like Ford.
I have a lot of friends who work at Ford (some of you are reading this right now).
I drive a Ford.
I can’t wait to see the Fathom in the wild.
There’s a very good chance I’ll take one for a test drive.
I might even buy one.
But I have this nagging feeling that the Ford Fathom is a Gateway PC in an Apple iMac world, and it hasn’t even launched yet.
The present state of electric vehicle development is more about the chips in the vehicle (it is all about the TOPS, "Trillions of Operations Per Second”), the chemistry you mix into the battery (Ford borrowed their chemistry from CATL), and how you elegantly tie that together with software (really, Apple Maps?).
There was no mention of TOPS, chemistry, or software innovation.
New EVs, as the analogy goes, are cell phones on wheels.
How they put those things together in the factory shouldn’t be the headline story.
Successfully build a vehicle that competes with a Xiaomi SU7, the vehicle Jim Farley himself said he liked so much he drove for “six months and did not want to give it up”.
Show me that, Jim, that’s how you beat China.
You’re Not Done. Keep Reading Here. 👇
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