Ford's secretive EV project could reinvent the way it designs and builds cars

The big picture: CEO Jim Farley has been vocal about the existential threat Ford faces amid new technologies, whipsawing government policies and the onslaught of Chinese competitors.

• "If you don't make the right bet, the company will not exist," he bluntly told Rolling Stone magazine recently.
• The low-cost EV project is a "Model T moment" for Ford, he says.

Driving the news: Clarke gave reporters an inside look at the innovation labs inside the EV skunk works in Long Beach, which until recently had been strictly off-limits — even to Farley and other top executives.

• The idea was to isolate a small team — a mix of outsiders and Ford veterans — from the rest of Ford so they could explore fresh ideas and collaborate freely.
• They spent four years experimenting and iterating on new ideas as they rethought every design and manufacturing process, from simplifying the electrical architecture to revamping the assembly line in an effort to reduce costs or improve efficiency.
• Their first product, a mid-size electric pickup truck, will be built in Louisville, Kentucky, and go on sale in 2027.

The mission is much bigger than delivering a new pickup truck, though.

• "This whole team has had the gift of focus, one platform, one product, to start off with," Clarke said.
• "We know that for it to be successful, it needs to be able to be produced at multiple factories throughout the world," he said. "Scale wins."
• Eventually, Ford expects the EV platform to anchor a whole family of EVs, from compact cars to full-size vans.

What we're watching: "You should look at this place as a flywheel" that's just beginning to spin, Clarke said.

• "Once we get it right and it's going fast enough, we can put people on the flywheel, and they can start taking the ride."
• Ford's first low-cost EVs will come to life in Long Beach, he said, but then, if all goes well, the innovation culture and processes will spread across the company.

Reality check: Ford has already written off $19.5 billion in EV investments, and its top EV executive, Doug Field, is departing after a sweeping reorganization that merged Ford's EV and manufacturing operations.

• Clarke's team, already well down the development path, was left intact to pursue its clean-sheet effort.

He's not daunted by analysts who say the U.S. auto industry has already lost to the Chinese.

The bottom line: "We can either sit here and watch it happen, or we can be part of the fight to actually solve the problem," Clarke said. "This is the moon shot. Competition is good. The customer will win."