Demand for the Tesla Cybertruck, a direct rival to the Ford F-150 Lightning, started out strong, but has since fallen off quite a bit, prompting Tesla to idle production of its electric pickup at its facility in Austin, Texas.
According to a report from Business Insider, Tesla put a temporary production hold on the Cybertruck for three days, telling its employees not to report to work on December 3rd through 5th, 2024. They were told they would receive eight hours’ pay for each of the idle days if they were scheduled. In addition to idled factory operations, workers have said they’ve been given inconsistent hours since late October.
Although Tesla did not provide a reason for the temporary halt, it’s likely due to waning demand for the electric pickup. That scenario isn’t exclusive to the Cybertruck, however, as the Ford F-150 Lightning has been faced with a similar cool-off in demand. In response, Ford Motor Company has slashed production of the electric pickup, which is manufactured at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, idling operations at the facility in November with plans to restart in early 2025.
Ford has also ratcheted back its plans for the next-generation Ford F-150 EV – which may or may not still carry the Lightning name – and recently announced that the project would be delayed at least until 2027. The Blue Oval said that this decision was reached in response to market demand. Even so, The Blue Oval is optimistic about the forthcoming model, which Ford CEO Jim Farley said would be a superior option to the Tesla Cybertruck for buyers in the market for an electric pickup.
It’s worth noting that during Q3 2024, the F-150 Lightning slotted in third in its competitive segment, trailing the second-place Cybertruck and posting 7,162. Comparatively, the Cybertruck moved 7,500 units last quarter.
Comments
The gotta-have-it early adopters have had their fill. Now they’re moving on to the VW ID.Buzz.
That’s why Ford has to offer 20k off to sell that POS, 0% financing. Every ad on social is Ford pimping it. 7k total sales. WOW. lol.
If these manufacturers are really concerned as they want to imply, then they should offer the public options that generate more attraction… they could at least try to invest in a vehicle that takes energy from the grid directly via pantographs like on trains, this would eliminate the need for battery, not to mention that the power could vary and be used as needed!
Elon is prone to make some outrageous statements both literally and in mechanical form. Sometimes they work well, and other times, not so much. This is one for the not-so-much column.
End the ev experiment! Big loser!!! If any of these vehicles were regular gas vehicles they would all be canceled by their manufacturers. Total flop. Until you can have a battery fully charge in 5 minutes or less all bets are off. Same problem they had 100 years ago. Not much progress in the battery department. Never mind the weight the caos and the fact that overall worse for the environment. They are wasting so much money on R and D and paying for the losses of all evs is a main reason regular gas vehicles are priced so high.
Bingo!
This coupled with the fact that the WSJ reported that Rivian loses $107,043 for every vehicle they sell. (3X what Ford loses per EV)
There are still too many limitations with EVs and thus the bulk of consumers are rejecting them.
The government cannot “create” a market with regulatory mandates and showering buyers and manufacturers with taxpayer money. Also, witness the govt. spending $7.5B and building only 8 charging stations over a 2 year period 🤦🏼♂️
It was always a recipe for disaster from the beginning.
This will all end after January 20. All the government incentives to purchase will be gone, and the lots will be full of EV’s, production will stop, and the whole thing will die a slow death.
Only people that wanted these from the start now have them, that thrill is gone, and the car companies are already gearing back to ICE power. They lost billions and cannot afford to lose any more on a failed products.
Look at Chrysler/ Dodge. Already cannot sell the new EV Charger, so going to power it with an ICE to try and get it to sell.
Will be the same with the windmill farms.
The EPA is going to be gutted, and all this ” alternative energy scam, green new deal ” crap will be history !
Nuclear power will be back, along with new or restarted coal power plants, to get ourselves out of the energy hole we have been put in by we all know who!
Thank God the majority of the people in this country saw what was going on the direction we were headed and chose to stop this madness!!
Love Ford authority. Keep the latest news coming.