American automotive giant Ford has been forced to temporarily cut one of three production shifts at its Michigan production plant building the electric F-150 Lightning due to multiple constraints including supply chain issues.
Ford confirmed to journalists that one of three production shifts would stop starting on Monday, affecting around 700 jobs – though Ford has promised to rotate which shift is cut.
There was no indication of how long the halt to production would last.
Ford, the second largest automaker in the United States, told reporters that the cuts are unrelated to the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike, citing instead multiple constraints including supply chain issues.
The news comes after the Wall Street Journal reported that a UAW official said in a memo that Ford was considering making the cut, adding that the company was considering building more petrol-powered cars instead.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that our sales for the Lightning have tanked,” the memo said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
This was unfortunately backed up by Ford’s own third quarter delivery numbers, which saw F-150 Lightning sales in the United States plummet by 46%. The good news out of Ford’s third quarter numbers, however, was that the Mustang Mach-E saw sales increase by 42.5% in the quarter.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.