Trump Fail: Ford To Halt Production Of F-150 Lightning EV Pickup Trucks Praised By Trump

[Red]

Oct 31 (Reuters) - Ford Motor (F.N)halt production of its F-150 Lightning
electric vehicle pickup trucks for six weeks from Nov. 18 to Jan. 6, the
Dearborn automaker said on Thursday.
Ford's U.S. 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.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
The company has instead thrown more investment into hybrid vehicles, which
combine an electric motor with a gasoline engine.
Ford said this month its Ford-brand U.S. EV sales are up 45% this year and
sales of F-150 Lightning more than doubled to 7,100 in the three months
ending Sept. 30 - thought they still represent just 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.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
CEO Jim Farley has said one of the main solutions to slowing EV sales growth
is bringing production costs down. That is a key goal for the future health
of the company, which is expected to lose about $5 billion on EVs this year
alone.
Ford this week reported third-quarter net income of $900 million, or 22 cents
per share, hurt by a $1 billion charge it took over the decision to cancel
production of the three-row EV SUV in August.

Stay up to date with the latest news, trends and innovations that are driving
the global automotive industry with the Reuters Auto File newsletter. Sign up
here.

[Rhino]

Post by Red
Oct 31 (Reuters) - Ford Motor (F.N)halt production of its F-150 Lightning
electric vehicle pickup trucks for six weeks from Nov. 18 to Jan. 6, the
Dearborn automaker said on Thursday.
Ford's U.S. 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.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
The company has instead thrown more investment into hybrid vehicles, which
combine an electric motor with a gasoline engine.
Ford said this month its Ford-brand U.S. EV sales are up 45% this year and
sales of F-150 Lightning more than doubled to 7,100 in the three months
ending Sept. 30 - thought they still represent just 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.
Advertisement · Scroll to continue
CEO Jim Farley has said one of the main solutions to slowing EV sales growth
is bringing production costs down. That is a key goal for the future health
of the company, which is expected to lose about $5 billion on EVs this year
alone.
Ford this week reported third-quarter net income of $900 million, or 22 cents
per share, hurt by a $1 billion charge it took over the decision to cancel
production of the three-row EV SUV in August.
Stay up to date with the latest news, trends and innovations that are driving
the global automotive industry with the Reuters Auto File newsletter. Sign up
here.

So they are not halting production PERMANENTLY, just for a few weeks,
and Trump has nothing to do with it. Got it. But then no one was
actually supposed to read the post, were they? They were only supposed
to read the subject line, react to it by blaming Trump, and maybe even
change their vote....

If there was a fail here, it was that Ford over-estimated demand for the
truck. Or that eco-warriors over-estimated the degree to which people
are buying into the "climate crisis". In any case, capitalism means that
production gets lowered to meet demand and if demand increases,
production also gets increased. This makes it radically different than
the communist state-planned model which just ignores over-production.
(Mind you, over-production doesn't happen very often since Marxist
economies always massively under-perform capitalist ones and devote the
lion's share of production to the military rather than the consumer
sector.)

[Klaus Schadenfreude]

Post by Red
The company has instead thrown more investment into hybrid vehicles, which
combine an electric motor with a gasoline engine.

That makes a helluva lot more sense.

[pothead]

Post by Klaus Schadenfreude

Post by Red
The company has instead thrown more investment into hybrid vehicles, which
combine an electric motor with a gasoline engine.

That makes a helluva lot more sense.

Yes it does.

[Ed P]

Post by Klaus Schadenfreude

Post by Red
The company has instead thrown more investment into hybrid vehicles, which
combine an electric motor with a gasoline engine.

That makes a helluva lot more sense.

It does for now. In a few years, there will be a few big changes.
Longer range, very fast charging times, no lithium. That will be my
next car.

[Governor Swill]

Post by Rhino
If there was a fail here, it was that Ford over-estimated demand for the
truck. Or that eco-warriors over-estimated the degree to which people
are buying into the "climate crisis". In any case, capitalism means that
production gets lowered to meet demand and if demand increases,
production also gets increased. This makes it radically different than
the communist state-planned model which just ignores over-production.
(Mind you, over-production doesn't happen very often since Marxist
economies always massively under-perform capitalist ones and devote the
lion's share of production to the military rather than the consumer
sector.)

Detroit got caught with its pants down. They and the Europeans and Japanese
rushed to market as many EVS as they could find batteries for. Suddenly the
demand powered EV market that made Tesla, vanished and everybody else is waiting
for the charging network to catch up and/or ranges dramatically extend.

China is the biggest EV market, consuming around half the global production.
Their health and safety standards are less so they have lots of EV fires. They
also have fields and stadiums filled with them.

NP: Atlanta Rhythm Section - Large Time