In another setback for President Joe Biden’s green energy agenda, Ford Motor Co. is cutting production of its all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck in half as the auto industry grapples with a lack of demand for Electric Vehicles (EVs).
The report from Automotive News details a planning memo from Ford executives sent to suppliers. The memo indicates that Ford will now only produce about 1,600 F-150 Lightning trucks at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan.
That weekly production total is half what Ford executives had initially planned to produce, suggesting that demand among Americans for EVs is forcing nearly every automaker in the country to cut back.
Automotive News reports:
Ford Motor Co. is dialing back planned output of the electric F-150 Lightning pickup by half next year because of “changing market demand,” a steep pullback of a high-profile nameplate the automaker spent most of this year working to build in larger numbers.
According to a planning memo obtained by Automotive News, Ford has told suppliers to prepare for average volume of around 1,600 Lightnings a week at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Mich., starting in January. It had planned to assemble an average of 3,200 a week, toward an annual goal of 150,000.
Output of gasoline-powered pickups at plants in Michigan and Missouri is expected to be essentially unchanged, the company said in the memo.
Ford Motor Company unveils their new electric F-150 Lightning outside of their headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan on May 19, 2021. (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
Already, Ford announced that it was cutting jobs and financial investment at an EV battery plant set for Marshall, Michigan.
The plant, in partnership with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL), was initially going to create 2,500 jobs with $3.5 billion in investment. Now, the plant will create 800 jobs with $2.5 billion in investment — cutting scheduled production by about 40 percent.
The lack of demand for EVs is a major issue for Biden as he campaigns on having passed the Inflation Reduction Act which imposes mandates on American consumers to effectively force the electrification of the nation’s auto industry.
As Breitbart News reported late last month, car dealers across the United States are so concerned with EV sales that they have urged Biden to abandon his EV mandates.
“The reality, however, is that electric vehicle demand today is not keeping up with the large influx of [EVs] arriving at our dealerships prompted by the current regulations. [EVs] are stacking up on our lots,” the car dealers wrote:
With each passing day, it becomes more apparent that this attempted electric vehicle mandate is unrealistic based on current and forecasted customer demand. Already, electric vehicles are stacking up on our lots which is our best indicator of customer demand in the marketplace. [Emphasis added]
At the same time, a bombshell Consumer Reports survey recently revealed that EVs spur nearly 80 percent more problems for car owners than gas-powered cars using traditional combustion engines.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at
