PJ McDonnell/Shutterstock Add Jalopnik on Google: Google Discover Ford's next generation of electric vehicles will be underpinned by the upcoming Universal EV platform, beginning with the under-$30,000 Fathom pickup truck it teased last month. Ford has said that the Universal EV platform will also underpin a variety of other electric vehicles. Automotive News reports that Ford told dealers the UEV will be used for at least five models. Ford Authority claims the next vehicle to launch on the UEV platform following the Fathom will be an EV reboot of the company's famed Escape crossover. What comes after that? In August of 2025, a year before the unveiling of the Fathom name, Ford filed for it and three additional international vehicle names to be trademarks. Perhaps these names give us a look at what Ford has up its sleeve for future UEV product launches. Maybe they're the future of Ford nomenclature, giving a peek at what we'll all be driving in a few years. We can assume that Ford already has these vehicles designed and in testing for their eventual launch. The other three names are Fuze, Hive, and Mythic. Besides these names sounding like a trio of smart-mouthed robots from a Michael Bay "Transformers" film, what do they make you think of? If you were Ford, what kinds of vehicles would you design with them in mind, or vice-versa, what kind of vehicle would you have to be looking at to name it Fuze, Hive, or Mythic? Throw Fathom in the mix and you've got a quartet of badges that feel like a throwback to 20 years ago, when everything had an action-oriented youth-focused name. That 2006 nostalgia seems to be hitting pretty hard over there in Dearborn. As a longtime auto writer, I've got some thoughts, and we're going to go through them. Ford Fuze and Hive Yuriyvlasenko/Getty Images Ford has already said that the UEV platform could underpin just about any shape of vehicle. A Ford rep told Ford Authority, "The UEV platform is designed to be highly flexible and will support a family of vehicles across multiple body styles (from B-car sized up to commercial vans)." We all know that Ford left the car market behind in 2019 when it killed off its non-truck-and-crossover vehicles, but refuses to close the door on sedans. With the current car affordability crisis, however, it could be smart of Ford to jump back into that fray with an inexpensive electric Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla competitor. Maybe it's a red herring, but Fuze sounds awfully close to the brand's former compact sedan, the Fusion. Both Toyota and Honda are selling about a quarter-million each in this segment, so if Ford can figure out how to make an EV for similar money, it'll have a real hit on its hands. Imagine getting a better-supported and better-built Tesla Model 3 for $25,000. You would have to run me over with one to keep me from running to my local Ford dealer. Speaking of markets Ford has been missing out on, the company had traditionally kept a minivan as a staple of its lineup, but hasn't offered one since it axed the forgettable Windstar/Freestar in 2007. While the Freestar was something of an also-ran in the minivan category at the time and probably deserved its ignominious death, Ford has an opportunity here to build a truly innovative people mover and help America's parents save some bucks in the process. A UEV-based electric van for your whole Hive seems like the perfect move. I don't need to carry a bunch of people and I want a van called Hive. Ford Mythic Getty Images/Getty Images I mean, come on. With a name like Mythic, Ford had better be cooking up something seriously special. With nothing to go on but the name I am forced to hope that Ford is reviving the GT90 concept from 1995 and underpinning it with as much electric go-fast know-how as Ford has. Considering the company just won Pikes Peak overall with its 1,400-plus-horsepower Mustang Mach-E racer, and has built several other electric power monsters, it might know something about building an electric supercar. Stand aside, Ford GT, there's a new Mythic in town. There's no telling what kind of power Ford can make from the UEV platform, or whether it will accommodate a low-slung supercar like this, but I hope the engineers behind the program are able to figure it out. It would be a real shame to see this name on something boring like another mediocre crossover. To rise to the level of myth, the car has to be truly legendary. Ford needs to produce the kind of car that kids hang up on their bedroom walls again. Do I expect Ford to make Mythic look like a GT90? No, but as a kid who had a poster of one hung up on my bedroom wall in the 1990s, I sure can hope. That design has endured for 30 years and still looks as modern and exciting as it did back then. There's never been anything like the GT90, and if Ford doesn't do this now, I'm not sure there ever will be. The time has come to show the world that Ford can engineer the best in the world again, and a Mythic supercar could be the direction it needs to go. Ford needs a keystone attention-getter in its dealerships.
