Forget Lightning. Ford’s New EV Pickup May Resurrect A Cult Classic

If Ford really will call it the Ranchero, then it had better have style to match.

Ford Ranchero

Photo by: Ford

Andrei Nedelea

By: Andrei Nedelea

Aug 7, 2025 at 9:11am ET

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Ford applies for the Ranchero nameplate, which could be used for a new electric pickup.
The last Ranchero was a two-door car with a bed in the back, and the new ute could stay close to that formula.
Ford will reveal the plans for its new affordable EV lineup on Aug. 11.

The Ford Ranchero was what the Australians would call a "ute": basically a two-door car with a bed in the back instead of a traditional covered trunk. Americans haven't seen a truck like that in forever, but Ford may be bringing back the name and the concept in electric form soon.

Could a new Ford Ranchero be the game-changing model the company CEO recently spoke about?

We know Ford is working on a midsize (not compact) electric pickup, which likely has a unibody construction and is expected to be the first to ride on a new modular EV architecture. You might think of it as an electric equivalent of today’s Ford Ranger, but with a more car-like body and with more of an on-road focus. That sounds a lot like the old Ranchero, which was related to the Fairlane and the Torino.

Ford Authority discovered that the manufacturer applied for a trademark on the Ranchero name on Aug. 5, with the scope of using it on “automobiles, trucks, vans, sport utility vehicles and structural parts therefor; Pick-up trucks; Electric cars; Electric vehicles, namely, electric passenger automobiles, pick-up trucks, vans, sport utility vehicles and their structural parts.”

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Ford could simply call its new, smaller electric pickup Ranger EV or Ranger Lightning. However, there’s a strong chance it will use a completely different name since it won’t be mechanically related to the body-on-frame combustion truck, unlike the F-150 Lightning, which is just an electric version of the regular F-150.

There’s a strong chance the unveiling of that new model will be the “Model T moment” that company boss Jim Farley was referring to in a recent statement. The model is believed to be the one designed and developed at Ford’s new "skunkworks" EV design center in Long Beach, California.

According to Ann Diep, staff technical program manager at Ford, this newly expanded facility will “develop a new generation of electric vehicles people are going to love.”

We don’t know a whole lot about the new platform or the new midsize truck, but we do know they both will have a value focus. This means it likely won’t have a huge battery to keep costs down, allowing Ford to sell these vehicles in high enough volumes that it will be able to catch up to General Motors, which has taken the lead on EVs in the U.S., although Jim Farley famously said he viewed Tesla and Chinese carmakers as ‘the ultimate competition.’