- Ford has paused manufacturing of the F-150 Lightning electrical pickup.
- The automaker is attempting to recuperate from losses related to a fireplace at an aluminum provider’s manufacturing facility.
- The corporate stated it is going to prioritize the fuel and hybrid F-150 and F-Collection Tremendous Obligation vans as a result of they use much less aluminum and are extra worthwhile.
Manufacturing of the Ford F-150 Lightning, America’s best-selling electrical pickup truck, has been placed on hiatus because the Michigan-based automaker is attempting to attenuate losses linked to a fireplace that occurred final month at an aluminum provider’s manufacturing facility in New York.
On the similar time, the corporate plans to “considerably improve” manufacturing of the fuel and hybrid F-150 and F-Collection Tremendous Obligation fashions as a result of they use much less aluminum and are extra worthwhile. The corporate desires to extend output by greater than 50,000 vans in 2026 in comparison with the earlier steerage.
Ford F-150 Lightning manufacturing
Ford will add as much as 900 new jobs on the Rouge Complicated in Dearborn, Michigan, the place the F-150 is constructed, and 100 new positions on the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, the place the F-Collection Tremendous Obligation is assembled.
The automobile maker stated that all the hourly workers on the Rouge Electrical Car Heart, which handles F-150 Lightning manufacturing, can be transferred subsequent door to the Dearborn Truck Plant to affix a newly added third crew that helps construct fuel and hybrid F-150s.
As for the destiny of the Lightning, Ford doesn’t have a selected date for the manufacturing restart. “Now we have good inventories of the F-150 Lightning and can convey Rouge Electrical Car Heart (REVC) again up on the proper time, however don’t have a precise date presently,” spokesperson Ian Thibodeau instructed TechCrunch.
Ford’s electrical pickup has been America’s best-seller for fairly a while, however digging deeper into the numbers reveals why Ford selected fuel and hybrid vans to herald increased income. The corporate offered 10,005 F-150 Lightning EVs within the third quarter, a wholesome 39.7% improve year-over-year, however nowhere close to the 207,732 F-Collection vans offered throughout the identical interval.
Many automakers dived head-first into the electrical pickup sport, hoping they might financial institution on America’s insatiable urge for food for pickups. However the market hasn’t responded as enthusiastically as firms had hoped, with gross sales figures of electrical vans nowhere close to their gas-powered counterparts.
Manufacturing of the Ford F-150 Lightning has been paused or scaled down a number of occasions for the reason that mannequin began rolling off the meeting line in 2022. The identical has occurred to a few of Basic Motors’ electrical vans, whereas Ram lately determined to cancel the upcoming all-electric 1500, specializing in an extended-range model as a substitute.
