Ford won’t let the suspended production of its F-150 Lightning interfere with its manufacturing plans.
Ford Motor has shown that it can be knocked down and get back up.
The Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker suffered a setback with its popular F-150 Lightning pickup truck, which it touts as the best-selling electric pickup truck in the US, when it halted production of the EV after a battery pack caused A truck fire in a holding lot during a pre-delivery quality check as the vehicle was being loaded on February 4, CNBC reported.
“As part of our pre-delivery quality inspections, one vehicle showed a potential battery problem and we are holding the vehicles while we investigate,” the company said on February 15. end of next week.”
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He explained that during a standard quality inspection prior to Lightning’s delivery, one vehicle showed a problem with the battery.
“We believe we have identified the root cause of this issue,” a spokesperson told TheStreet at the time. “By the end of next week, we hope to wrap up our research and apply what we learn to the truck battery production process – this could take a few weeks. We will continue to hold vehicles already produced while we work on engineering and process updates.”
Ford said on March 2 that it would resume production of the Lightning on March 13.
“We will resume production at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center on March 13,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement, referring to the Michigan plant where the pickup is built.
Ford
Ford plans to increase production
But Ford didn’t stop there with that statement. The automaker said on March 3 that it is ramping up production at its North American manufacturing plants to meet strong demand for the F-150 Lightning, Mustang Mach E and other models.
“We are off to a strong start to 2023 sales and are moving towards accelerated quality production,” Kumar Galhotra, Ford Blue president, said in a statement. “Increased production benefits both our customers and our business.”
Ford said its overall share of the US market rose 1.4 percentage points in February to 13.3 percent, buoyed by a 21.9 percent sales increase.
Despite the suspension of F-150 Lightning production, Ford said Lightning manufacturing at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center is on track to triple this year, targeting an annual production rate of 150,000 by the end of 2023. Ford , which sold 3,600 Lightnings in February, said it will ramp up production of electric vehicles with a $2 billion investment in three plants in Michigan and the creation of 3,200 union jobs.
Mustang Mach E, E-Transit increases manufacturing
Additionally, Ford said it began ramping up production of the Mustang Mach E this week as it is doubling its hourly output and raising its annual manufacturing rate to 210,000 units by the end of the year. The automaker will also add a crew in April to its Kansas City assembly plant, which makes the E-Transit and gasoline-powered Transit electric vans. Ford is investing $95 million and adding 1,100 union workers as part of Transit’s production increase that targets 38,000 in total pickup production.
The company said it is also focusing on ramping up production of its gas-powered Bronco Sport and Maverick pickup trucks to more than 80,000 units this year. It added that it is also looking at ways to increase production of its best-selling F-150 gas trucks and F-150 PowerBoost hybrid trucks.
