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Ford Motor will pause manufacturing on its F-150 Lightning till at the least February 24 as a result of the electrical pickup truck has a battery downside.
The Michigan automaker noticed a possible battery situation this week throughout a pre-delivery high quality inspection and began investigating the trigger. Ford mentioned it isn’t conscious of battery points impacting autos already out on the highway.
“We consider we’ve got recognized the foundation reason behind this situation,” Ford spokeswoman Emma Bergg advised CBS MoneyWatch on Wednesday. “By the top of subsequent week, we anticipate to conclude our investigation and apply what we be taught to the truck’s battery manufacturing course of.”
Making use of that course of “may take just a few weeks,” Bergg mentioned.
“We are going to proceed holding already-produced autos whereas we work by way of engineering and course of updates,” she mentioned.
Ford started promoting its F-150 Lightning final yr. The manufacturing pause threatens Ford’s plan to ship 600,000 Lightning vans in 2023.
Since their launch final Might, Ford has offered 15,617 of the electrical vans, in accordance with the newest firm knowledge accessible. The corporate offered 2,436 of them in October, essentially the most ever offered in a single month.
Hovering demand for EVs
Ford is betting massive on the F-150 Lightning, investing thousands and thousands of {dollars} on a brand new facility for a car that is already been named the 2023 MotorTrend Truck of the 12 months.
When firm officers first introduced the truck in 2021, demand rapidly soared because the pre-order checklist surpassed 100,000 inside three weeks. Employees are constructing the car in a brand new plant in Dearborn, Michigan.
Ford’s pause comes as curiosity and demand for electrical autos proceed to rise within the U.S. A survey from motor membership AAA discovered that a couple of quarter of Individuals say they need to get an electrical car as their subsequent automobile buy. Analysis from Recurrent, a automobile trade evaluation firm, discovered that curiosity in shopping for an electrical car has soared 70% since final January.
Ford raised the worth of the F-150 Lightning in October because it sought to offset rising manufacturing prices. Different automakers additionally hiked the price of their EV strains — together with Rivian, GM and Tesla — amid surging metallic costs and better prices for parts like lithium, which is used to make batteries.
Ford earlier this month reported $1.3 billion in revenue for the fourth quarter of 2022, down roughly 89% from the identical interval final yr. CEO Jim Farley mentioned in an earnings name this month that he is pissed off with the 2022 efficiency “as a result of the yr may have been a lot extra for us at Ford.”
Ford’s inventory value fell almost 1% on Wednesday to about $12.80 a share, its second day of declines.
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