As many of us have said....Slate has next to no features vs. Fathom at similar prices.   Blue Oval Exec Says Ford Fathom Has Big Tech Advantage Over Slate Pickup   Though the Ford Fathom and Slate pickup are aimed at different types of customers, both also figure to be cross-shopped by a lot of consumers simply because they're both EV pickups with low starting price tags. Slate has made it clear since day one that it's offering a simple, barebones, DIY-friendly model that customers can customize however they choose, and it's quite basic, with no screens or even power windows. On the flip side, the Ford Fathom is going to have a bevy of standard and optional tech, as the automaker continues to emphasize. "On the middle and higher-level trims, we see a lot higher propensity or willingness to purchase, and so that's where we try to standardize our software, especially BlueCruise. We also do look at the vehicle trims. I have a good example. Ford Fathom is launching. It's a sub $30,000 vehicle. It's considered affordable. But the cohort of customers that we're seeing there are going to be very tech forward, younger, just have a lot of expectations," Mike Agraon, president of integrated services at Ford, said during an appearance at the Morgan Stanley 2026 Laguna Conference. "In addition, we have some competition who are a little bit more bare bones, and so we see ourselves as in a really good advantage spot here where we are going to make that available to every single vehicle. One, because the customer seems like they're the ones that would want it. And two, because it distinguishes us again from products that don't have quite the number of features that we believe we're going to be able to pack into that Ford Fathom for under $30,000."

For now..........they'll forget in a few years and see the increased cost of additional inspections and checks and be like hey, we could cut this for increase margins!!

https://www.autoblog.com/news/rivian-deliveries-jump-46-but-its-stock-falls-as-tesla-stock-jumps    Rivian handed in a rather good report card this quarter. It delivered 19,248 vehicles between July and September, up from 13,201 a year earlier and comfortably above the 18,000 or so analysts had expected. The growth story increasingly comes down to the Rivian R2, its smaller and cheaper SUV. The model gives buyers a way into the brand without paying R1 money, and its early performance suggests Rivian may finally have a product capable of expanding beyond its expensive pickup and SUV lineup. However, Tesla still moves roughly 25 times Rivian’s volume, which helps explain why Tesla stock jumped 5 percent despite a dip in overall deliveries, while Rivian’s stock slipped 3 percent despite the better quarter performance. 

2027 Dodge Durango Gets Fun New Colors As Sales Keep Rising - Autoblog   I can't really understand why Durango sales are still growing.   That thing is ancient.

Given how the market in the US is for EVs, I'd have my doubts also if I was Ford.  I'm pretty sure the Fathom will be a good/great product, but I'm also not sure if buying public will actually turn out for it. I hope Ford can still offer a discount or whatnot on home chargers, which should help.    And at this point, who cares when the Utility version comes out, I wasn't expecting it till late 2028 at the earliest anyways. 

Hopefully that changes very soon. I think part of the problem was lack of battery cell production. 

It makes zero sense to not offer BS as a hybrid especially as it shares production with Maverick....

It's amazing to me how hard GM has avoided traditional hybrids since Ford debuted the escape hybrid 20 years ago.  They had Volt and tried to do mild hybrids a couple of times then straight to EVs.   Then again Ford missed some opportunities with Edge and Bronco Sport.

The truth with the UEP Utility delay is to give the Fathom every chance. Just like the Maverick, they want the Fathom to have “clean air” before releasing a utility that may just conquest existing customers.   For all the virtues of UEV, Ford is not 100% convinced that Fathom will be a home run. That’s why Ford is looking at EREV for so much product.

GM  has its own self imposed impediments, what I was pointing to is no matter which manufacturer you pick, all of them are all finding the going tough, so not just a Ford thing…..