FWIW: Small "crack" team is how the Ford Maverick came to be. By keeping the group small and focused they found the product development suffered less from scope creep. This is how Ford can sell a Maverick fairly cheaply.
They dusted off an old FWD Mazda truck/SUV JV design that had been shelved ages ago and reconstituted it for modern use cases.
As for this vehicle, they will have to either borrow the China based Ford Territory (based on a JMC Nanchang design) or develop a Gen 3 C-Max platform further as it was already EV capable.
A new Bloomberg report reveals that Ford's small EV skunkworks project includes both a Tesla Model 2 competitor and a compact electric pickup truck that is also aiming at a $25,000 price tag. The pickup will be US-made and is due for a 2026 release.