Ford Motor Co. this week resumed production of the electric F-150 Lightning at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn following a six-week shutdown to expand and retool the plant to support a boost in production capacity.
The Dearborn automaker said Tuesday that production restarted Monday and that it remains on track to hit its targeted annual rate of 150,000 Lightning units by the end of the third quarter, representing a tripling of capacity. The plant is expected to deliver approximately 70,000 Lightning units in 2023.
The six-week production shutdown involved expanding the plant in the Rouge complex, adding new equipment, and bringing on board an additional 1,200 employees who are in training and who bring the facility’s workforce to 2,000 people. The plant launched production of the Lightning last year with about 500 workers; it will launch a three-crew operation later this month.
New additions aimed at improving quality include a system to automatically measure and validate the truck’s exterior body fit, and a station to validate wheel alignment and headlamp aim for driver-assistance technology.
Units of the Lightning Pro, the base trim level geared toward fleet customers, are now available for retail customers in “limited quantities,” with priority given to reservation holders who’ve been waiting on the truck for as long as two years.
Amid signals that demand for electric vehicles is softening in the United States, Ford executives said Tuesday that a recent price reduction across the Lightning lineup has spurred an increase in web traffic and orders, but declined to comment on how many orders they have on the books.
A recent Cox Automotive study found that EVs are sitting on dealer lots nearly twice as long as their gas-powered counterparts, despite subsidies such as up to $7,500 in tax incentives for certain electric models.
Last month, Ford announced it was reducing prices across the F-150 Lightning lineup, a move it attributed to the boost in plant capacity and lower costs for battery raw materials, the Associated Press reported. The automaker had raised the price on the Lightning after launching the truck with a starting price of around $40,000 for the base model.
Now, the Pro model starts at $49,995, down from $59,974. The Lariat model’s price was slashed from $76,974 to $69,995. The XLT trim is priced at $54,995, while the top-end Platinum version starts at $91,995.
The price reduction followed news that EV market leader Tesla Inc. had assembled its first production Cybertruck, an electric pickup that is slated to compete with the Lightning and new offerings from General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV. Tesla also has reduced prices across much of its lineup in recent months as it chases higher sales, putting pressures on other EV makers to cut their prices too.
“We feel very good right now, but the future is somewhat unpredictable and volatile,” Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer for Ford Model e, said of demand for EVs and the Lightning. “We’re seeing competition increase. We’re seeing inventories out there grow as the competition adds supply and availability. And we’re going to have to adjust with the market.”
Still, he noted that EV sales continue to grow in the United States: “The demand is there. We now have the supply to match it.”
Gjaja acknowledged that the plant downtime slowed Lightning deliveries in June and July; August also is expected to see low sales numbers for the Lightning.
“We expect sales will start to significantly increase in later September, and certainly in October as supply begins to rapidly ramp in the latter half of the year,” Gjaja said. “As we triple supply, we are also taking actions to triple demand. This started with adjusting price, which while still above where we launched, brings the F-150 Lightning closer to (internal combustion engine) counterparts as we start to focus on attracting more traditional truck customers, or the early majority of the market.”
In other moves to spur demand, Ford is adjusting the trim mix to increase availability of the Lightning XLT, which makes up more than half of new orders.
“For the first time, supply won’t be the barrier to entry,” said Gjaja. “But challenges still remain around customer awareness and acceptance. One way we will address this is by adding a demonstrator program so those looking to try an EV can do so at their Ford dealership.”
To support the increase in Lightning production, production also is ramping up at Ford’s Rawsonville Components Plants in Ypsilanti, which builds battery packs, and at the Van Dyke Electric Powertrain Center in Sterling Heights, which makes EV power units.
jgrzelewski@detroitnews.com