Ford’s F-150 Lightning plant set to idle production for weeks

Ford Motor Co. said Thursday it’s idling its F-150 Lightning electric truck plant in Dearborn from mid-November through the end of the year as the automaker continues to deal with slower-than-expected EV demand.
Production will pause after the shift ends on Nov. 15 and will resume Jan. 6., a Ford spokesperson confirmed. Ford did not confirm how many workers would be impacted, but Automotive News reported that about 800 workers would be affected, including 750 hourly workers.
“We continue to adjust production for an optimal mix of sales growth and profitability,” Ford spokesperson Jessica Enoch said in an email.
The EV landscape has changed dramatically since Ford since first revealed the Lightning in May 2021. Shortly after its reveal, the automaker said it would double production to meet customer demand, and at one point, the company shut down its reservation system to manage the overwhelming response.
Even as recently as last spring, Ford said it planned to hire an additional 300 new hourly workers at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center as the automaker scaled toward maximum production.
Earlier this year, though, Ford slashed production of the Lightning in half and cut its hourly workforce at the factory by two-thirds.
Ford said in August that it’s changing its EV strategy after losses mounted, and said it’s prioritizing the introduction of a new, all-electric commercial van delaying the launch of a full-size EV pickup.
Stephanie Brinley, a principal analyst for S&P Global Mobility, said Ford’s “continued management of production and demand” is better than the automaker continuing to build EVs like the Lightning but then having to use more incentives to sell them.
Brinley said she expects more moves like these — such as slowing production or delaying plant investments and openings — from automakers “as the electric vehicle market evolves in a very bumpy, inconsistent way.”
“The reality is, consumers are not coming on as quickly as people hoped at one point,” she said. “But they are coming, and (the EV market) is still growing.”
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Ford Model e (the automaker’s electric vehicle business) reported a loss before interest and taxes of $1.2 billion in the third quarter, continuing a trend of Ford losing money on EVs.
On its third-quarter earnings call with analysts Monday, Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said there’s a global price war with EVs “fueled by overcapacity, a flood of new EV nameplates and massive compliance pressure.”
Farley said Ford expects about 150 new EV nameplates to hit North American market by the end of 2026 and is already seeing some aggressive lease tactics from its competitors.
In response, Farley said Ford is focusing on costs by shifting launches, trimming capacity of batteries and accelerating the mix of its batteries so that it can take advantage of tax credits available by producing lithium iron phosphate batteries at the battery factory it’s building outside Marshall, Michigan.
Farley told employees that the automaker must further speed efforts to lower costs and improve quality, and that manager bonuses, linked to those metrics, would be slashed to 65% of their total, Reuters reported Thursday. 
Company bonuses are directly tied to progress on key goals in an effort to change the 121-year-old automaker’s culture to hold employees more accountable, according to a new performance system. Farley made the announcement about the lowered bonuses at a town hall on Wednesday, Reuters reported.
The industry as a whole is adjusting EV strategy in an effort to cope with demand that’s growing, but falling below projections. For example, General Motors in June said it was adjusting its EV production targets for the year.
Contact Adrienne Roberts: [email protected]