"When Ford electrified its best-selling pickup truck, it pulled out the stops. The F-150 Lightning may look virtually identical to other versions of the pickup, but it's smoother, faster, and obviously far, far more efficient than the ones that run on gas, diesel, or hybrid power. But the future of the country's best-selling electric truck may be in doubt. That's according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, which claims that Ford's management is "in active discussions about scrapping" the Lightning."
"While Ford told Ars it doesn't comment on speculation on its future product plans, the automaker said that "F-150 Lightning is the best-selling electric pickup truck in the US-despite new competition from CyberTruck, Chevy, GMC, Hummer and Rivian-and delivered record sales in Q3." "Right now, we're focused on producing F-150 ICE and Hybrid as we recover from the fire at Novelis."
"Ford was the first of the domestic automakers to bring a full-size pickup EV to market. But like General Motors, it has found that pickup truck customers have not flocked to electric propulsion in anything like the numbers predicted pre-pandemic. As we learned last week, GM has also scaled back its EV production, and last month Stellantis announced that it has ceased development of an all-electric version of its Ram 1500."
The F-150 Lightning is smoother, faster, and more efficient than gas, diesel, or hybrid F-150s. Ford's management is in active discussions about scrapping the Lightning. Production was suspended after an aluminum shortage following a fire at a supplier's New York factory, a disruption Ford estimates could cause up to $2 billion in losses. Ford says the Lightning is the best-selling electric pickup in the US and posted record sales in Q3. The company is prioritizing F-150 ICE and Hybrid production while inventories recover and will restart the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center later. A second-generation Lightning has been postponed in favor of a cheaper, simpler electric pickup due in 2027.
Read at Ars Technica
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]