Ford NZ not ruling out Fathom ute or electric Bronco
Words: Andrew Sluys
Ford New Zealand says nothing has been ruled out when it comes to bringing more electric product to this market, with the Fathom ute and a full-electric Bronco both on the list of possibilities.
Managing director Annaliese Atina told us Ford needs more electrified vehicles here and is open to looking at anything in the global range, following the confirmation of the Bronco Basecamp range-extender SUV and Transit City electric van at Ford’s Uncovered event in Melbourne.
Asked whether she wants the Fathom, Ford’s new US-built electric pickup, Atina says: “We need an electrified product. Yes, absolutely. So yeah, we’re open to looking at anything.”
Pressed on the chances of seeing it in New Zealand, she says there is always a chance but she cannot put a date on it.
“Nothing’s been ruled out at all. And I think the beauty of having a market like ours is the ability to look at business case and bring in products quickly.”
The Fathom is a mid-size, four-door electric ute that goes on sale in the United States in 2027 priced from US$28,350, making it the cheapest electric vehicle Ford sells there. It is the first vehicle on Ford’s Universal EV platform, uses a 400-volt lithium iron phosphate battery, offers vehicle-to-load power, and will be built at Ford’s Louisville plant in Kentucky. Ford has not yet released range, towing or payload figures, and the production body will be revealed early next year. It is currently a left-hand drive product.
The other candidate is closer to home. The Bronco Basecamp confirmed for New Zealand is a range-extender hybrid with a 49kWh battery and 1.5-litre petrol generator, but the same JMC-built vehicle is sold in China as a full battery electric SUV. That version uses a 105.4kWh lithium iron phosphate pack for a claimed 650km on China’s CLTC cycle, with 130kW front and 202kW rear motors and DC charging from 10 to 80 per cent in about 25 minutes on an 800-volt architecture. It went on sale in China in December 2025 and is currently built for that market only.
Atina told us the Basecamp and Transit City are the first China-sourced Fords sold outside China, and the joint venture range will keep being assessed.
“We’ve got a very strong joint venture in China and we’ll continue to look at opportunities everywhere,” she says.
Atina says Ford is not bringing vehicles in to earn Clean Vehicle Standard credits, but acknowledges the company remains heavily weighted to petrol and diesel and that targets will get harder from 2028.
“We are still a very big ICE business,” she says. “So we have to have a balanced portfolio.”
Ford’s electric lineup in New Zealand is currently the Mustang Mach-E, E-Transit Custom and E-Transit, with the Transit City to join them in January 2027. The Bronco Basecamp, due in the second half of 2027, will be Ford’s first range-extender model here.
