Ford to halt production of electric F-150 for six weeks

Blue oval brand has been scaling back its EV plans

Ford will halt production of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks for six weeks from November 18 to January 6, the Dearborn carmaker said on Thursday.
Ford will halt production of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks for six weeks from November 18 to January 6, the Dearborn carmaker said on Thursday.
Image: Supplied

Ford will halt production of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup trucks for six weeks from November 18 to January 6, the Dearborn carmaker said on Thursday.

Ford's US plants are closed for a holiday week in December.

"We continue to adjust production for an optimal mix of sales growth and profitability," a Ford spokesperson said.

Ford has been scaling back its EV plans, saying in August it was killing a planned three-row electric SUV and pushing back a new electric version of its best-selling F-150 pickup.

The company has instead thrown more investment into hybrid vehicles, which combine an electric motor with a petrol combustion engine.

Ford said this month its Ford-brand US EV sales are up 45% this year and sales of the F-150 Lightning more than doubled to 7,100 in the three months ending September 30,  though they represent only 3.6% of all F-Series pickup sales.

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

CEO Jim Farley has said one of the main solutions to slowing EV sales growth is bringing down production costs. That is a key goal for the future health of the company, which is expected to lose about $5bn (about R88,116,440,500) on EVs this year alone.

Ford this week reported third-quarter net income of $900m (about R15,860,959,290), or 22c (R3.88) per share, hurt by a $1bn (about R17,623,288,100) charge it took over the decision to cancel production of the three-row EV SUV in August.


Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.