Ford puts a six-week pause in production of electric F-150 pickups

Ford is temporarily halting production of its all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck due to slowing demand for battery-powered vehicles.

The Detroit automaker announced Thursday it will halt production of the pickup truck for several weeks starting in mid-November.

Ford employees will resume production of the F-150 on January 7.

The move comes after Ford cut prices on its F-150 models several times earlier this year. The cuts were introduced after Ford suspended production due to quality problems.

“We continue to adjust production to optimally balance sales growth and profitability,” Ford said in a statement Thursday.

Ford is scaling back its electric vehicle plans, saying in August it was scrapping a planned three-row electric SUV and pushing back a new electric version of the F-150 pickup truck.

Instead, the company has invested more in hybrid vehicles that combine an electric motor and a gasoline engine.

Ford said this month that U.S. electric vehicle sales are up 45% this year, and F-150 Lightning sales more than doubled to 7,100 in the three months ended Sept. 30, although they still account for just 3.6%. all F-Series pickups. sales.

The company cut production of the F-150 Lightning to one shift in April after announcing in October 2023 it would temporarily cut one of three shifts at its Michigan plant.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, who said on a podcast earlier this month that he was fascinated by the Chinese-made Xiaomi sedan that he flew into the country specially from Shanghai, said one of the main solutions to slowing growth in electric vehicle sales is to increase production costs. down.

That’s a key goal for the future health of the company, which is expected to lose about $5 billion on electric vehicles this year alone.

Ford this week reported third-quarter net income of $900 million, or 22 cents per share, due to a $1 billion loss the company took in connection with the decision to cancel production of its three-row electric SUV in August.

Its shares fell more than 10% on Tuesday. Shares fell 1.3% to $10.34 on Thursday afternoon.

Farley told employees that the automaker needed to accelerate efforts to improve quality and cut costs, and that manager bonuses tied to those metrics would be cut to 65% of their total, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Farley recently unveiled a new performance system that ties company bonuses directly to progress on key goals in an attempt to change the culture of the 121-year-old automaker and increase employee accountability.

He made the announcement about the reduction in bonuses at City Hall on Wednesday.

“I’m proud of the progress, but we’re not satisfied at all,” Farley said at the third-quarter earnings presentation Monday.

With postal wires