Ford considers dropping the F-150 Lightning
This is according to the Wall Street Journal, citing insider sources. The background to this is that sales of Ford’s electric vehicles have been falling short of expectations for some time. With the cancellation of US subsidies, the company now fears even greater slumps. Large electric pickups and SUVs will be the hardest hit, writes the business newspaper. October (the first month after the US tax credit expired) gave a foretaste of what was to come: Ford’s electric vehicle sales in the US fell by 24 per cent compared to the previous year, with only 1,500 F-150 Lightnings among the units sold.
No final decision has yet been made about the future of the electric F-150 pickup truck. But if it is discontinued, it “would make the money-losing truck America’s first major EV casualty,” as the Wall Street Journal puts it. Given the $13 billion in losses Ford has accumulated in its electric car business since 2023, it is not really surprising that Ford is putting the loss-making model, which is produced at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Centre, to the test. However, the matter is complex: the future of the electric pickup truck also has an impact on other areas of the business. According to the business newspaper Insider, Ford is considering closing the Rouge Electric Vehicle Centre while it switches to smaller, cheaper electric vehicles. Officially, Ford says it will resume production “at the right time.”
Production of the F-150 Lightning at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Centre has been suspended since October, following a previous hiatus last year. The reason this time is said to be delivery problems with aluminium caused by a fire at the factory of key supplier Novelis.
Production of the F-150 with a 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 justified its decision to prioritise the combustion engine version in October by stating that less aluminium is required 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 announced in October that it would hire 1,000 new employees to significantly increase production of the conventionally powered F-150. When all variants are taken into account, 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.
In the third quarter, Ford sold 10,000 F-150 Lightnings, 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 conditions under the Trump administration and the current comparatively low fuel prices, this is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.
‘There is simply no demand for the F-150 Lightning and other full-size trucks,’ the Wall Street Journal quotes Adam Kraushaar, owner of the Lester Glenn Auto Group in New Jersey. He sells vehicles from Ford, GMC, Chevy and other brands. ‘We don’t order many of them because we can’t sell them.’ Ram truck manufacturer Stellantis also abandoned plans for an electric version of its pickup truck at the beginning of the year. Sales figures for Tesla’s angular Cybertruck have also slumped this year, and Rivian is cutting jobs.
This article was first published by Cora Werwitzke for electrive’s German edition.
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