Ford considers cutting production of its electric pickup in 2024
Until now, Ford had planned to produce an average of around 3,200 F-150 Lightning vehicles per week next year at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn (in the US state of Michigan). Various media outlets are now reporting, citing an insider, that the US car manufacturer is currently only planning to produce half of this number. A Ford spokesperson explained on Monday in more general terms that “production will continue to be adjusted to customer demand”, without giving details.
Ford resumed production of its F-150 Lightning at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan in early August after a six-week break, but cancelled one of the three shifts at the plant in mid-October due to “various constraints, including supply chain issues”.
At the end of October, Ford announced in principle that it would postpone some of its planned multi-billion investments in new production capacities for electric vehicles and batteries. The first concrete consequences are already known: Ford will be implementing its LFP battery cell factory in the USA on a much smaller scale than originally designed. The US company is also shelving plans for a battery plant for electric commercial vehicles planned with LG Energy Solution and Koç in Turkey. A planned second battery factory on a new campus in Kentucky is also affected by the cost-cutting measures.
At the presentation of its Q3 business figures, Ford announced that it would only gradually implement several planned investments in view of a billion-euro loss in the Model e electric division and weaker demand. “Many North American customers who are interested in purchasing an electric vehicle are not willing to pay a premium over gasoline or hybrid vehicles, which is putting significant pressure on the price and profitability of electric vehicles,” the manufacturer stated a few weeks ago.
The construction of Blue Oval City – Ford’s new EV production campus in Tennessee – will continue without change, but other projects – such as those mentioned above – will be postponed or put on hold.
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