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The next domino to fall in Ford’s electric car game plan? Slowing production plans for the F-150 Lightning EV pickup.
As recently as June of this year, Ford expected the annual production of the F-150 Lightning at its Rouge EV plant in Dearborn, Michigan to be 150,000 by the end of the year – this is the installed capacity the house – converted to 3,200 cars. get together a week. Ford has now told its F-150 bike suppliers that it plans to reduce that production to about 1,600 bikes assembled per week, or ‘half of the original goal, for a reminder was received by Automotive News.
When Yahoo Finance reached out to Ford for comment, the automaker said it would “match production with customer demand.” Consumer demand is clearly falling, as consumers object to paying higher prices for EVs compared to electric vehicles, as well as paying higher financing costs compared to both. last year. For example the F-150 Lightning Pro starts at $49,995 (before taxes), while the XL SuperCrew F-150 sedan starts at $40,780.
That said, Ford reported a record month for F-150 Lightning sales in November, selling nearly 4,400 trucks in the month – a 100% jump from last year. But if Ford sells 5,000 electric cars a month next year, that means only 60,000 trucks for the year – less than production. half are planned for 2024.
Competition is also heating up in the EV truck space, with Tesla’s Cybertruck going on sale less than two weeks ago, Rivian selling more of its R1 EV, and GM entering the trouble next year with its Silverado EV pickups.
Ford has a lot of plans for its EV revolution, as outlined in its Ford+ plan at its big market day in May. Since then Ford has said it will “push out” about $12 billion in EV spending, and is reducing battery power at upcoming plants like the one in Michigan CATL technology will be used. Ford is also delaying the start of production at two of its JV factories being built in Kentucky.
Despite the effects of the UAW strike and higher labor costs—and the real change in the EV demand story—Ford is still targeting an 8% EBIT margin for its EV business in the 2026, Ford CFO John Lawler recently said at the Barclays automotive and mobility conference in New York. For comparison, the conventional gas-powered Ford Blue business is targeting a long-term EBIT in the low double digits, with the Ford Pro business model expected for the mid- young people.
Ford is investing in improving its current EVs, such as the Lightning and Mustang Mach-E crossover, with cheaper and improved parts and simplified production processes. But the big bet is on its 2nd-gen EVs, which the company sees will help the company to earn more.
“The main message is that we have to design these second-generation products very differently than the first-gen products,” Ford CEO Jim Farley told Yahoo Finance during his big market day. Farley says 2nd-gen products like its Project T3 pickup and 3-row EV SUV will arrive in 2025 — with competitive prices to boot.
“We will look at the sales price, and if you have not put it in your business plan and you have not planned second round products and reduce them to include in your estimate up to 8% margin in our case, that means it’s not going to work,” Farley said.
Pras Subramanian is a writer for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him Twitter and so on Instagram.
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