Ford Aims for 100,000 Fathom Sales in Its First Year, While the F-150 Lightning Took Five Years to Reach That Number: TDS

Ford Aims for 100,000 Fathom Sales in Its First Year, While the F-150 Lightning Took Five Years to Reach That Number: TDS

      Ford

      Hello and welcome to The Downshift, or TDS for short, The Drive’s morning news roundup that brings you the top automotive news from across the globe.

      The Downshift summarizes the news briefly, providing links to full articles for those interested in more details. Here’s your update for Thursday, September 3, 2026.

      🔊 The latest episode of The Drivecast, The Drive’s weekly podcast, was released yesterday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other platforms where you access podcasts.

      📈 According to a recent report, Ford aims to sell 100,000 units of its new Fathom electric truck in its first year in the market. However, this goal may prove challenging, as the automaker never exceeded sales of 33,000 F-150 Lightning pickups in a single year and took five years to reach 105,000 total sales. On the plus side, the Fathom will have a starting price of $30,000, significantly lower than the Lightning's pricing. Conversely, the Lightning initially benefited from a federal EV tax credit, which is no longer available to buyers. [Wall Street Journal]

      ⛐ Luis Moya, the Spanish rally co-driver famous for his successful partnership with Carlos Sainz, has added fuel to the speculation surrounding Toyota’s Celica revival. "Next year will be a somewhat uneventful year,” Moya remarked about the 2027 WRC season, “but we already know the Toyota team will produce a Celica,” later mentioning, “they will have a Celica as their Rally1 car, along with a Rally2 car.” [Rally Journal via Autoblog]

      🚙 Scout has unveiled two new concepts based on the Traveler, showcasing the variety of performance features and trim options that customers can select when the electric SUV is launched in 2028. [Scout Motors]

      🔩 Tesla has issued a notably specific recall for 19 Model Y SUVs due to front suspension fasteners that have not been torqued correctly. [NHTSA]

      📉 Volvo recently ranked 24th out of 32 brands in a dealership satisfaction survey, falling 14 positions compared to five years ago. Dealerships are struggling with inventory issues and rapidly changing sales programs, and the automaker’s software quality concerns have not improved the situation. [Automotive News]

      🏢 Uber plans to lay off 3,300 employees, making up 10% of its workforce, as part of its most significant cuts since the COVID-19 pandemic. [Reuters]

      🚕 Tesla is hosting a Cybercab launch event in Austin on Thursday at 5:45 p.m. ET, where further details about the intriguing two-seat robotaxi may be revealed. [Reuters]

      Have a tip or feedback for TDS? Contact us at tips@thedrive.com.

Ford Aims for 100,000 Fathom Sales in Its First Year, While the F-150 Lightning Took Five Years to Reach That Number: TDS

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Ford Aims for 100,000 Fathom Sales in Its First Year, While the F-150 Lightning Took Five Years to Reach That Number: TDS

Ford is said to have established an ambitious target for its $30,000 electric truck, aiming to surpass the F-150 Lightning's highest single-year sales by three times in its inaugural year.