Ford Fathom

Okay.

And then right now they've been doing a lot of talk about this new thing called the Ford Fathom, which is, as far as I can understand, a compact pickup?

Yeah.

What do you mean by, as far as you can understand, you haven't seen the photos or the press

This is a way to get Apple Maps as the mapping app inside the car manufacturer's own navigation system.

So you will see what looks like Apple Maps on the dashboard of your Ford Fathom in... fully integrated into Ford's system, Ford's UI in their cars, which is their own UI.

I think it's based off Android Automotive, but it's entirely their own UI.

So that's an interesting idea.

So, um, yeah, yeah.

And then, and I think the industry kinda feels like, uh, the Slate's dead on arrival, especially with the new Ford Fathom, because we all know that, you know, Ford is a truck company at this point, uh, and they're [laughs] really good at building trucks.

And they've also taken this approach similar to the Slate's, right? Um, they didn't invite us to some of the first, you know, factory walkthroughs on, uh, on, uh, Fathom.

You're salty, too.

Uh, and I'm worried about their success.

Yeah.

I'm a little salty at the Ford Fathom, but I'm not really worried about their success, except I, I just recently heard from listening to some other podcasts-

Uh-huh

They're required.

They come out with a new model, this new Ford Fathom electric vehicle.

They've crashed a bunch of them to make sure that they get five stars, at least four stars.

That's what I'm looking for.

And then you've got wildcard projects like Slate, plus a steady stream of new entries trying to undercut the market on price.

Think Ford Fathom next year.

What all of this really tells us isn't that buyers are walking away from EVs.

It tells us that buyers are getting way more selective.

It just shows that affordable vehicles and affordable EVs definitely have a future.

I mean, we're seeing Ford Fathom coming up, their affordable pickup truck.

We talked about that on Cruise Control Motoring not that long ago.

And I'm sure more of these will follow more affordable electric vehicles.

But you're seeing EVs in general.

The Ford Fathom, as we've discussed, is coming out in the market.

We're seeing all these releases.

And with capability of vehicles and everything, one of the things that I've seen, my truck was in the shop getting its AC fixed.

Or it could be a 30-year-old diesel.

Or it could be a Ford Fathom.

But that's-

We'll see