Ford says “no exact date” to restart F-150 Lightning production



When Ford electrified its bestselling pickup truck, it pulled out all the stops. The F-150 Lightning may look virtually identical to other versions of the pickup, but it’s smoother, faster, and obviously far, far more efficient than the ones that run on gas, diesel, or hybrid power. But the future of the country’s bestselling electric truck may be in doubt.

That’s according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which claims that Ford’s management is “in active discussions about scrapping” the Lightning. Production had already been suspended a few weeks ago due to an aluminum shortage following a destructive fire at a supplier’s factory in New York, which Ford estimates may result in as much as $2 billion in losses to the company.

While Ford told Ars it doesn’t comment on speculation on its future product plans, the automaker said that “F-150 Lightning is the best-selling electric pickup truck in the US—despite new competition from CyberTruck, Chevy, GMC, Hummer and Rivian—and delivered record sales in Q3.”

“Right now, we’re focused on producing F-150 ICE and Hybrid as we recover from the fire at Novelis. We have good inventories of the F-150 Lightning and will bring Rouge Electric Vehicle Center (REVC) back up at the right time, but don’t have an exact date at this time,” a Ford spokesperson said.

Ford was the first of the domestic automakers to bring a full-size pickup EV to market. But like General Motors, it has found that pickup truck customers have not flocked to electric propulsion in anything like the numbers predicted pre-pandemic. As we learned last week, GM has also scaled back its EV production, and last month Stellantis announced that it has ceased development of an all-electric version of its Ram 1500.

As for Ford, a second-generation F-150 Lightning has been postponed in favor of a much cheaper, much simpler-to-build electric pickup, which is due in 2027.



Source link

  • Related Posts

    Game consoles built streaming — until it outgrew them

    This is Lowpass by Janko Roettgers, a newsletter on the ever-evolving intersection of tech and entertainment, syndicated just for The Verge subscribers once a week. It’s been a rough couple…

    Steam Machine and Steam Frame delays are the latest product of the RAM crisis

    When Valve announced its Steam Machine desktop PC and Steam Frame VR headset in mid-November of last year, it declined to announce pricing or availability information for either device. That…

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    You Missed

    Doctors may be missing early signs of kidney disease

    Doctors may be missing early signs of kidney disease

    Italian man investigated over claims he paid to shoot people during 1990s siege of Sarajevo | Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Italian man investigated over claims he paid to shoot people during 1990s siege of Sarajevo | Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Secretary Rubio Gives Up Role as Acting U.S. Archivist

    Game consoles built streaming — until it outgrew them

    Game consoles built streaming — until it outgrew them

    India chase sixth Under-19 World Cup title, England their first since 1998

    Epic Games Store’s free game this week is a puzzle masterpiece

    Epic Games Store’s free game this week is a puzzle masterpiece