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Ford volition unopen down 1 of 2 accumulation shifts successful April astatine the Dearborn, Michigan, mill that builds the F-150 Lightning electrical pickup. The determination is portion of "matching F-150 Lightning accumulation to lawsuit demand," the institution said Friday.
General Motors precocious made a akin announcement astir its Chevrolet Silverado EV, announcing it would postpone adding accumulation facilities for the truck, which went into accumulation past outpouring for firm customers.
While income of electrical vehicles accrued successful 2023, the maturation was slower than galore manufacture experts had expected. Ford inactive projects an summation successful Lightning income this twelvemonth aft a 55% leap to 24,000 trucks past year. The institution did not accidental however galore F-150 Lightnings it expects to merchantability this year.
The 24,000 successful Lightning income is inactive a tiny fraction of wide Ford F-series pickup sales. The F-series is Ford's best-selling merchandise enactment and has been the best-selling conveyance of immoderate benignant successful the United States for astir 50 years. Last year, Ford sold much than 750,000 F-series trucks.
The terms of a Lightning starts astatine astir $50,000 and is eligible for $7,500 successful national EV taxation credits. Even with the taxation credits, the terms remains higher than the $34,000 basal terms of the gas-powered truck.
Ford has raised and lowered the terms of the Lightning respective times since it deed the marketplace successful 2022, starting astatine astir $40,000 for its slightest costly model, the Lightning Pro. In July, Ford slashed the terms of a Lightning Pro, pursuing earlier increases, to astir $50,000.
About 1,400 workers volition beryllium chopped from the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, wherever the Lightning is built. About fractional of those employees volition determination to the adjacent Michigan Assembly Plant, wherever accumulation volition summation for the gasoline-powered Ford Bronco and Ranger models.
Other workers volition beryllium shifted to antithetic jobs wrong the Rouge complex, which includes a mill wherever gas-powered F-150 trucks are built. Some of the employees could instrumentality vantage of status packages agreed to arsenic portion of caller United Auto Workers contracts signed successful October
While Ford has said it is gathering factories successful Tennessee and Kentucky wherever a next-generation EV motortruck volition beryllium built, the institution precocious announced it would standard backmost plans for an EV artillery works successful Michigan.
"We spot a agleam aboriginal for electrical vehicles for circumstantial consumers, particularly with our upcoming digitally precocious EVs and entree to Tesla's charging web opening this quarter," Ford main enforcement Jim Farley said successful the announcement.
Meanwhile, Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares told reporters Friday that the automaker has nary plans to dilatory down its upcoming EV production, though the gait of adoption could alteration arsenic a effect of the US statesmanlike and European Parliament elections this year.
"I've prepared 2 scenarios, based connected what what would beryllium the results of those large elections successful Europe and the United States. I'm acceptable for some scenarios. It's an acceleration script and a slowdown scenario," Tavares said. "I person nary script wherever it would halt due to the fact that we request to hole the planetary warming issue."
Stellantis' ain electrical pickup, the Ram 1500 Rev, volition spell connected merchantability aboriginal this year, on with a plug-in hybrid version, the Ram 1500 Ramcharger.
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