The Ford F-150 Lightning is getting an extended holiday vacation this year.
Starting in mid-November, the Detroit giant will halt production of its electric pickup until the end of the year, reports Bloomberg. The company is temporarily halting work at the factory where its battery-powered flagship is built due to waning EV demand.
Ford announced on Thursday that it would close its Dearborn factory from November 18 to January 6 of next year (the plant is normally closed for one week in December for the holidays). News of the pause is the latest blow for the F-150 Lightning, a vehicle that CEO Jim Farley once said would have the same importance as the Model T, the first mass-produced automobile. This is the second time the automaker has slashed production of the pickup in 2024. The brand started the year by cutting planned production of the F-150 Lightning in half. It also stopped shipments of the pickup in February due to a still-unspecified quality issue, before cutting its price in a bid to boost sales.
“We continue to adjust production for an optimal mix of sales growth and profitability,” Farley told the newswire in a statement.
The F-150 Lightning is not Ford’s first EV, nor its best-selling—that would be the Mustang Mach-E—but since it is a battery-powered version of its most popular model it has been positioned as its signature electric offering since launching in 2022. The company has sold 22,807 examples of the pickup through the first three quarters of 2024, which is a year-over-year improvement of 86 percent. Although that could be considered good news, the numbers are still far short of the company’s expectations for the model, according to Reuters. Only 3.6 percent of F-150 sold are electric.
Ford, like so many other automakers, has begun to rethink its previously announced electrification strategy due to slower-than-expected EV adoption by consumers. Earlier this week, Farley announced that the company expected to lose $5 billion on EVs this year. The company has also pulled the plug on a battery-powered three-row SUV that had been in development. The company is now turning its attention to smaller, cheaper EVs, while also investing more money in the development of hybrid vehicles.
