- Ford will stop its F-150 Lightning assembly lines in mid-November until January 2025 due to lower-than-expected sales
- The automaker had already cut production volume targets, and took the factory to a single shift early in the year
- The Lightning, previously the top-selling electric pickup in the U.S., was recently unseated by the Tesla Cybertruck
Ford will temporarily stop building its all-electric F-150 Lightning in mid-November until the end of the year, in response to sales that turned out to be lower than expected. According to a report by Automotive News, production will idle on November 15 and start up again on January 6, 2025. The shutdown also covers the plant’s scheduled week-long break over the Christmas and New Year holidays. The plant has about 750 hourly workers.
The report said Lightning sales in the U.S. in calendar-year 2024 were 22,807 units at the end of September, a gain of 86% over the same period last year (Canadian numbers didn’t separate the Lightning from overall F-150 sales). In a statement, Ford said, “We continue to adjust production for an optimal mix of sales growth and profitability.”
Ford had already cut its planned volume for Lightning production volume at the beginning of 2024, from its initial target of about 3,200 vehicles per week; down to 1,600 units. It reduced its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan to a single shift, cutting two-thirds of the factory’s jobs. It also stopped shipping trucks to dealers for nine weeks for “an undisclosed quality issue,” although it continued building them during that time.
In April, Ford in the U.S. dropped the MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) on the Lightning in April by as much as US$5,500 on the Flash Extended Range model, bringing its starting price down to US$67,995 from $73,495; while the standard-range XLT fell by US$2,000 to $62,995, and the Lariat was discounted by US$2,500. In September, Ford also announced it would throw in a home charger and installation on every purchase of an EV for American buyers.
The Lightning had been the best-selling electric pickup truck in the U.S. – other contenders include the Chevrolet Silverado EV, GMC Hummer Pickup, and Rivian R1T – but recently lost the crown to the Tesla Cybertruck.
In its third-quarter 2024 earnings call to investors, the automaker said its Ford “Model e” division, which covers all of its electric offerings, was down 11% in volume “driven by competitive market dynamics,” and that the division’s revenue was down 33% “reflecting industry-wide pricing pressure and lower volume.” The Model e division is expected to post a US$5-billion loss over the current year, which analysts believe will fall to a US$4.4-billion loss in 2025.
During the webcast for the earnings call, Ford CEO Jim Farley called the company’s EV strategy an “area of strength…which I wouldn’t trade for any of our competitors,” but said there’s “a global price war and it’s fuelled by overcapacity, a flood of new EV nameplates, and massive compliance pressure.” Overall, he said that in the U.S. since the first quarter of 2024, “EV volumes have grown 35% while revenues in total are flat at (US)$14 billion. That means the progress on volume has been fully offset by prices.” He added that he expects “roughly 150 new EV nameplates” to emerge in North America by the end of 2026.
He also mentioned an upcoming midsize electric pickup that will be the first model built on a new and lower-cost platform, expected for 2027; but Ford has delayed production of a next-generation full-size electric truck.
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