Ford already cut shifts at the Rouge EV production plant earlier this year.
In the simmering electric truck battle, it appears Ford Motor Company just blinked.
After the company’s third-quarter earnings call earlier this week, during which CEO Jim Farley cited slower demand for the F-150 Lightning, the company confirmed it would halt production at the Rouge EV plant from November 18 of this year until January 6, 2025 — nearly a two-month stoppage (per Automotive News).
This move comes after Ford already cut its workforce at the Rouge by two-thirds in April, reducing what was a three-shift rotation at the plant down to one. When that happens, 700 of the then-2,100-strong workforce transferred to the Michigan Assembly Plant that builds the Bronco and Ranger, while another 700 were offered the option to move over to MAP or take an early retirement package.
Just one month ago, as the automaker announced its third-quarter sales results, it touted a 45% increase in electric vehicle sales this year, with a large proportion of that gain down to the F-150 Lightning. Sales of Ford’s full-size electric truck rallied 86% year-to-date, with Q3 sales more than doubling (104.5%) between 2023 and 2024. Still, while the percentages look solid, dealers delivered 7,162 F-150 Lightnings to customers in the third quarter.
Contrast that performance with Tesla, General Motors and Rivian, and it’s easier to see where Ford’s coming from on this decision. The Tesla Cybertruck was America’s third best-selling EV overall last quarter (behind the Model Y and Model 3, naturally), delivering 16,192 units. GM, for its part, delivered 5,252 Chevy Silverado EVs and 387 Sierra EVs, and while that may not eclipse the F-150 Lightning yet, both trucks have been on sale for less than a year, while the F-150 Lightning has been on sale since 2022. It’s also planning to launch a more affordable Silverado EV LT in the coming weeks. Looking at all EV sales including cars sold this year, GM actually pulled ahead with 70,450 EVs sold, to Ford’s 67,689.
| 2024 YTD | 2023 YTD | % Change | |
| Tesla CyberTruck, X, S | 61,493 | 45,905 | +34% |
| Rivian (R1T, R1S, Van) | 37,396 | 36,150 | +3.4% |
| Ford F-150 Lightning | 22,807 | 12,260 | +86% |
| GMC Hummer EV (Truck+SUV) | 8,902 | 1,216 | +632% |
| Chevy Silverado EV | 5,252 | 18 | New |
| GMC Sierra EV | 387 | 0 | New |
Here is a more details breakdown of the U.S.-only sales/vehicle registration data for each one of the electrified trucks.
| Cybertruck | 23,400 |
| F-150 Lightning | 22,807 |
| Hummer EV | 8,902 |
| Rivian R1T | 8,878 |
| Silverado EV | 5,252 |
| Sierra EV | 387 |
Rivian, which itself revised down its production guidance to less than 50,000 vehicles, delivered 10,018 EVs to customers in the third quarter (though it does not break out how many of those sales were the R1T, specifically).
Ford’s star is on the rise…with hybrids
Through the first nine months of 2024, Ford e — the automaker’s electric vehicle division — has lost $3.7 billion. Of that, $1.2 billion in negative margins came in the third quarter. The company cites “industry-wide pricing pressure” as part of the reason for that loss, though it does say it achieved $1 billion in cost improvements in an effort to improve its EV profit trajectory into 2025 and beyond. Clearly, Ford posits part of that improvement is temporarily pausing F-150 Lightning production until demand picks back up.
Beyond adjusting F-150 Lightning production, however, Ford is currently maintaining its plans to build a new midsize electric pickup by 2027, while also launching trucks with cheaper lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries by 2026.
In the meantime, the Blue Oval’s strategy seems to be a hard pivot toward hybrids, where the current market demand resides. Quarter-over-quarter, Ford F-150 Hybrid (PowerBoost) sales increased by 64% from Q3 2023 to 20,129 units, representing 10% of all quarterly F-150 sales, while Maverick Hybrid sales increased by 22% to 16,561 (which is just over half of all quarterly Maverick sales between July 1 and September 30). Combined, Ford says its hybrid truck sales account for 77% of the current market. It’s worth noting that, at the moment, the only other competitor in the hybrid truck space is the Toyota Tacoma (which sold 1,506 hybrid examples in Q3) and the Tundra (1,374 hybrid units in Q3). The 2025 Ram 1500’s 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 with eTorque technically counts as a mild hybrid, accounting for the remainder of the current hybrid truck segment at the moment.
Ford’s third-quarter earnings beat expectations, largely on the basis of its Ford Blue (internal combustion) division, which posted a 6.2% operating margin (and $1.627 billion profit) over the past three months for which data is available. The Ford Pro commercial division also posted an 11.6% margin ($1.814 bilion profit) in Q3 2024.
The company’s recent announcements signify some level of ongoing commitment toward EVs, such as its “Power Promise”, which is offering EV buyers a free level 2 A/C charger so long as they take delivery this year. However, the big-picture plan looks to be a focus toward its core ICE products and hybrids, as opposed to rivals like Tesla and GM which are charging ahead with a range of fully electric models, including their trucks.
With Ford temporarily pulling back F-150 Lightning production and General Motors pushing on with its Factory Zero plant’s production schedule, it will be interesting to see which of the Big Three automakers’ strategies win out with consumers and investors in the months ahead.
