Thus far, the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike against Ford hasn’t expanded to include the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, where the Ford F-150 Lightning is built, but it is impacting a number of the automaker’s plants where the union hasn’t officially walked out. Regardless, despite that big problem and ongoing supply chain issues, The Blue Oval has managed to ramp up F-150 Lightning production over the past few months following strong initial demand, all thanks to some upgrades at the Rouge plant earlier this year. Regardless, now Ford F-150 Lightning production will apparently take a temporary step back, according to Reuters.
Ford will temporarily cut one of three shifts at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center due to “multiple constraints, including supply chain issues,” according to the automaker. This move – which is set to begin today – will affect a total of 700 jobs, though the company will rotate the shift that is being cut. FoMoCo did say that this move is unrelated to the ongoing UAW strike, which thus far has not impacted the Rouge plant in any capacity, however.
It’s unclear how long this particular shift at the Rouge will be cut, but the automaker did say that it’s “working through processing and delivering vehicles held for quality checks after restarting production in August.” However, a UAW official reportedly sent out a memo citing declining sales as another reason for the move, noting that the automaker may shift some of its capacity back to ICE-powered pickups instead. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that our sales for the Lightning have tanked,” the memo read.
While Ford’s EV sales increased by 40 percent year-over-year through September, they also declined by 46 percent over the prior three months. Currently, F-150 Lightning sales only account for around two percent of total F-Series sales, to boot.
We’ll have more on the F-150 Lightning soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for the latest Ford F-Series news, Ford F-150 news, F-150 Lightning news, and non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
If Tesla thinks they’re going to sell ‘millions’ of those high-school metal shop built ‘Cybertrucks’ I hope they’re paying attention. America is voting with their wallets and not buying into special interest EV propaganda and seeing the shortcomings (cost, weight, range, charge times, questionable life, resale value).
“temporary”…like inflation
I own a 2017 FX4 F150 302A 5.0L rock solid with 89,000 miles in it, and I wouldn’t trade it straight up for a 2024 Platinum Lightning pickup.
Americans don’t want EVs, ever car news article states the same. We joined the grassroots boycott against EVs.
I was just window shopping the Lightning at my local dealer. They have 2 in the low $90,000 price range. A couple in the low $70’s. Overpriced in my opinion. Where is the $45,000 one? I don’t really want one. Also, Ford some free advice. Fired the person or persons you employ who planned the EV plant expansion off of those 200,000 Lightning pre orders.
All the people who wanted to be included in the EV fad have shot their wad , and now this is showing the real demand , which is little to none !
The ones that did buy are finding out the limitations of the EV, lack of charging stations , short battery life, ect., and are now stuck with these ,after they payed how much over sticker price to own a dinosaur that nobody wants after them !!
Would be interesting to see how much they would get on a trade at a dealer for a ICE F-150 !!
Bet it would be no where near what they payed for it !!
Farley had better take notice , his EV blunder will be catching up with him !
EVs are a losing proposition. Heavy, tear up tires due to the weight, $15K battery replacements, expensive to repair. No thank you, join the boycott and let them fail.
Way over priced for that kilowatt hog!
Over priced and not practical as a truck is the real resound Lighting sales are dropping. When people buy a truck they don’t want something they are going to tow with that they have to stop every hundred miles and wait fifty five minutes to charge before going another hundred miles and repeating the process.
The supply chain disruptions are the buyers. They aren’t there. The market isn’t there for these hugely expensive EV trucks, they’re basically trucks for people who want, but don’t need a truck. People like me who could use a truck to haul sod back from home Depot, but could also just as easily rent the home Depot truck for $20 an hour.
The problem is that Ford built an EV, instead of building an f150 with an EV option. They should have made it truly an f150 powertrain option, not a separate model. The interior in lightning doesn’t stack up to the newest trucks, powerboost really works better for most buyers, and frankly lightning is dated now, based off the last generation truck, whereas the ICE Truck is getting an upgrade to the new generation.
Ford’s real mistake is doubling down here. They’re working on a ground up EV truck that will be even less popular at a higher cost. They should pull the plug on that project and work to make the lightning powertrain an option on the regular f150.