According to a memo seen by the outlet, Ford told its dealers to prepare for an average production volume of 1,600 electric trucks starting next year from the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan. The company currently produces 3,200 trucks from that factory every week.
Emma Bergg, a spokesperson for Ford, declined to comment on the figures published in the report. “We will continue to tailor Lightning production to customer demand,” she said in an email.
“We will continue to tailor Lightning production to customer demand.”
Electric vehicle sales continue to rise, but not as quickly as some automakers expected. As a result, several companies have withdrawn their ambitious construction plans, including Ford, which recently said it would postpone $12 billion in investments. That includes pausing construction of one of two planned battery factories in Kentucky and cutting production targets for another battery factory in Michigan.
Ford continues to lose money on its electric cars, with adjusted profits of about $1.3 billion last quarter. So far this year, Ford has lost $3.1 billion on its EV spending and has said it will lose a total of $4 billion this year.
But despite this, sales of electric cars continue to grow. Ford has sold 20,365 F-150 Lightning trucks so far in 2023, up from 13,258 in 2022, an increase of 53 percent. According to Cox Automotive, electric vehicles accounted for just under 8 percent of all U.S. vehicle sales in the third quarter of 2023.
Sales of electric vehicles are hampered by high prices and a lack of charging options. Ford has tried to address this with new releases like the F-150 Lightning Flash, a mid-priced version of its electric truck, and working with Tesla to adopt the company’s EV plug.
