Ford halts production of the F-150 Lightning
Ford has once again suspended production of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Centre after a break last year. The reason for this is delivery problems with aluminium caused by a fire at the factory of key supplier Novelis.
Production of the F-150 with combustion engine or hybrid drive, on the other hand, is continuing and is even set to be ramped up to compensate for the losses caused by the temporary discontinuation of the Lightning. Ford justifies its decision to favour the combustion engine version on the grounds that less aluminium is needed for its production than for the electric version.
Combustion engine production to be ramped up
According to the carmaker, the fire could reduce pre-tax profits by a billion. To offset this amount, Ford plans to hire 1,000 new employees to significantly increase production of the conventionally powered F-150. When all variants are added together, Ford’s F-Series is still the best-selling vehicle model in the United States. Annual production is set to increase by a full 50,000 units in 2026.
Ford had high hopes for the all-electric F-150 Lightning, but it has not been able to live up to them since its market launch in 2021. The electric pickup truck is more successful in its segment than its competitors, the Tesla Cybertruck and Rivian R1T. However, overall, the target group for US pickup trucks still seems to have reservations about this type of drive system.
Ford sold 10,000 F-150 Lightnings in the third quarter, which was a record. However, this was probably mainly due to the expiry of the government tax credit for electric cars. As this was cancelled on 30 September, there was another rush for fully electric models in the United States.
Ford continues to make losses with electric cars
Overall, electric flatbed trucks still play a rather minor role. Given the significantly worsened overall conditions under the Trump administration and the current comparatively low fuel prices, this is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. It is therefore still uncertain when the US giant will resume production of the F-150 Lightning. The US portal Electrek openly questions whether production of the electric pickup will resume at all.
The overall encouraging figures for the third quarter, published by Ford on 23 October, reflect this situation. The Dearborn-based car manufacturer exceeded expectations in terms of sales and profits. However, the business is currently driven primarily by combustion engines – especially in the commercial vehicle sector.
The combustion engine division ‘Ford Blue’ showed decent growth, while the EV division ‘Model e’ posted a loss of $1.4 billion, or approximately €1.2 billion, for the third quarter, which was $200 million more than in the same period last year. From January to September, the electric division’s loss amounted to $3.6 billion.
This article was first published by Elias Holdenried for electrive’s German edition.
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