DETROIT – For years, Ford has been beating the drum, saying the future is going to be electric, but from the looks of it, the future may be a little bit further off than the company initially thought.
The automaker is planning to slash production of its all-electric F-150 Lightning in the new year due to demand not meeting supply.
The company publicly said, “We will continue to match production to customer demand,” but Automotive News reportedly got ahold of a letter the company sent to suppliers where they announced the plan to cut its weekly build of over 3,000 vehicles in half.
“The total market kind of is stabilizing. We’re not going to see big increases in sales next year and the EV market is slowing,” said Cox Auto analyst Michelle Krebs. “It’s still the fastest growing segment, but there’s a whole lot more players and a lot more product so the production is outstripping demand.”
EV sales are up 50% year to year, and they’ll eclipse a million vehicles here, but as of October, they only make up about 7% of the total North American sales.
Ford isn’t alone in this. General Motors is delaying some of its EVs expected in early 2024 to the end of the year or beyond. And with offerings like the $100,000-plus Hummer, GM’s mix, along with Ford’s Platinum Lightning running just shy of that, their offerings appear a little too pricey, and the aggravation over range anxiety is just too much for the average U.S. car buyer.
“Now we’re moving to mainstream America and they’re a little bit hesitant,” Krebs said. “Especially with the price of EV’s as higher than regular vehicles and there’s not a strong EV charging infrastructure yet.”
One of the things Krebs said about EV acceptance is they need to run just like an EV in all things, and they aren’t there yet. And their quality isn’t exactly stellar either, which customers are demanding as well. Consumer Reports says all carmakers are struggling with getting EVs on a par with internal combustion engine vehicles and are finding building pioneering technology is never easy.