Ford recognizes electrical shock therapy |
The F-150 Lightning was sold as the vehicle of the future. But Ford Motor Company’s “iconic” electric vehicle pickup didn’t even live to see its fourth birthday. Earlier this week, Ford announced it would cease production of its flagship full-size electric truck, which first went into production in April 2022.
In a call with reporters, Andrew Frick, president of Ford Blue and Ford Model e, said that the company was responding to economic reality and consumer demand. “The American consumer is speaking clearly, and they want the benefits of electrification like instant torque and mobile power,” Frick told reporters. “But they also demand affordability … rather than spending billions more on large EVs that now have no path to profitability, we are allocating that money into higher-returning areas.”
The truth is, the Lightning was a money loser for Ford from the start.
A full two years ago, I was writing that Ford’s big bet on EVs was looking like a disaster, after the company announced it was slashing the price of the Lightning by $10,000. Ford claimed the move stemmed from lower-than-expected production costs, but that claim was as shaky as an EV range estimate on a cold Minnesota morning. After all, you don’t slash your production goals in half, as Ford had done in conjunction with slashing its price, because of lower........