The electric Ford F-150 Lightning pickup began production today at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford employees and F-150 Lightning customers attended the “Job 1” event for the first-ever, full-size all-electric pickup to go on sale, arguably the most important launch in Ford Motor’s history since the Model T. The Rouge is also home to another landmark Ford – the Model A. This is also a significant event in the country’s badly needed shift to electric vehicles to save planet earth from the pernicious and deadly effects of burning fossil fuels. (AutoInformed on: EV Pickup! Ford is Betting Lightning Can Strike Twice; Ford Introduces All-Electric F-150 Lightning Pro – Bring Money; *more below)
Ford Motor, whose existence was tenuous during the Great Recession, is now the top automaker in America in terms of 2021 production, sales of US-made vehicles and employment of hourly autoworkers. The F-150 Lightning is the only full-size electric pickup available now with a starting price less than $40,000. Ford F-Series has been America’s best-selling truck for 45 years running and is second only to the iPhone in revenue among all American consumer products, according to a 2020 study*1.
Ford claims unprecedented demand for the F-150 Lightning.
Whether Ford can maintain that position is far from assured given the investment involved and its ongoing costly quality problems. Right now Ford electric business Model e is hemorrhaging money. Ford claims it will be profitable around 2026 and it wants a 10% margin in profitability even with the enormous costs and complexity involved in migrating to EVs and away from internal combustion vehicles, aka ICE. Ford has confirmed its 2022 guidance of $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion in company adjusted EBIT. The high end of the range equates to a margin of 8% which, if achieved, would be one year earlier than the company’s previous target. (Ford to Up Electrification Spend to $30B by 2025. Wants 40% All-Electric Global Volume By 2030; Ford Motor Structure Threatens Viability. Vast Reorg Coming. More below)
Ford claims unprecedented demand for F-150 Lightning with 200,000 reservations and is expanding the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center to ramp up production to a planned annual rate of 150,000 in 2023. The company has invested a total of $950 million and created 750 jobs at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center. Ford’s investment in Michigan for F-150 Lightning now totals more than $1 billion, with 1700 recently created jobs spread among five Ford plants in the state, including Van Dyke Electric Powertrain Center, where Lightning electric motors and electric transaxles are assembled, and Rawsonville Components Plant, where Lightning batteries are assembled. Still, Michigan was badly hurt by Ford’s decision to invest heavily in Kentucky and Tennessee. (AutoInformed: EVs – Ford to Spend $11.4B Creating a Tennessee Campus, Twin Battery Plants in Kentucky)
Ford says it is on track to deliver more than 2 million electric vehicles annually by 2026, equal to about one-third of the company’s global volume. Ford projects 50% by 2030.
Jim Farley.
“America’s real transition to electric vehicles starts now,” said Ford President and CEO Jim Farley. “F-150 Lightning is just the beginning of our ambitions for growth and leadership in digital, electric vehicles. We continue to expand our EV manufacturing footprint across the U.S., including the start of site preparation at BlueOval City*2, which will enable us to meet the ever-increasing customer demand for our exciting EV line-up.”
*1: Ford assembles more vehicles in the U.S. than any other manufacturer based on S&P Global Mobility CYE 2021 US Light Vehicle Production data. Ford is No. 1 among high-volume automakers in American-assembled percent of American sales based on Ford’s analysis of S&P Global Mobility CYE 2021 Light Vehicle Production data. High volume manufacturers produce 500,000 units or more in a calendar year. Ford employs about 56,000 hourly workers in the U.S., more than any other automaker, based on Center for Automotive Research data.
*2: With its partner, SK Innovation, Ford plans to invest $11.4 billion and create ~11,000 new jobs at the Tennessee and Kentucky “mega-sites.” Overall, Ford expects 40% to 50% of its global vehicle volume to be fully electric by 2030. Both states are “right to work” (for less?) states, which means workers don’t have to be unionized. Tennessee sent $500 million in incentives from its taxpayers. Kentucky donated $300 million and what appears to be about 1500 acres of free land. Ford is apparently the latest automaker attempting to lay off some or more of the huge capital costs needed to build EVs as global warming make their increasing use inevitable.
An all-new $5.6 billion mega campus in Stanton, Tenn., dubbed Blue Oval City, will create ~6,000 new jobs and >pr babble alert> “re-imagine how vehicles and batteries are manufactured. Blue Oval City will become a vertically integrated ecosystem for Ford to assemble an expanded lineup of electric F-Series vehicles. It will include a BlueOvalSK battery plant, key suppliers and recycling. Ford’s new Tennessee assembly plant is designed to be carbon neutral with zero waste to landfill once fully operational… Blue Oval City will be among the largest auto manufacturing campuses in U.S. history.
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- Ford Introduces All-Electric F-150 Lightning Pro – Bring Money
- EV Pickup! Ford is Betting Lightning Can Strike Twice
- Ford Recalls 653,000 F-Series, Expeditions, Navigators for Bad Wipers – 18 Products Affected by Safety Defect
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- Bad Brakes – Ford Recalls Bronco Sport, Escape SUVs
- Operator Error – Ford Recalls 2021 Bronco for Bad Airbags
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- Ford Recalls 2013-21 Transit Connect Vans for Roll Aways
- Off the Roof Rails – Ford Recalls 616,967 Explorer SUVs
- Ford Recalls 375,200 Explorer SUVs – Recalling a Prior Recall
- Ford Recalls Defective Rear-view Cameras on 620,246 Vehicles
- Failed Pre-Collision – Ford Recalls Expedition, Navigator
- Ford Recalls a Recall on 2019 Ranger Pickup for Fires
- Ford Recalls Super Duty Vehicles for Carpet Fires
- Ford Recalls 311,907 Explorer SUVs for Dangerous Seat Frame
- Ford Recalls 1.2M Explorer Models and Others for Defects
- Ford Issues 2022 Integrated Sustainability and Financial Report
- EVs – Ford to Spend $11.4B Creating a Tennessee Campus, Twin Battery Plants in Kentucky
- Ford to Up Electrification Spend to $30B by 2025. Wants 40% All-Electric Global Volume By 2030
- Europe’s F-Series – All-Electric Ford E-Transit Revealed
- Ford Motor Structure Threatens Viability. Vast Reorg Coming
- Ford F-150 Lightning Tows 10,000 Pounds in Colorado, Nevada
- Ford Pro Using Lightning EVs in Pilot Farming Study
- Constellium to Make Aluminum Parts for Ford F-150 Lightning
- Ford Introduces All-Electric F-150 Lightning Pro – Bring Money
- EV Pickup! Ford is Betting Lightning Can Strike Twice
- Ford Recalls 653,000 F-Series, Expeditions, Navigators for Bad Wipers – 18 Products Affected by Safety Defect
- Ford Recalls F-150 Pickups for Sudden Shifting into Neutral
- Bad Brakes – Ford Recalls Bronco Sport, Escape SUVs
- Operator Error – Ford Recalls 2021 Bronco for Bad Airbags
- Three More Ford Recalls – 885,569 F-Series, Explorers, Aviators
- Ford Recalls 2013-21 Transit Connect Vans for Roll Aways
- Off the Roof Rails – Ford Recalls 616,967 Explorer SUVs
- Ford Recalls 375,200 Explorer SUVs – Recalling a Prior Recall
- Ford Recalls Defective Rear-view Cameras on 620,246 Vehicles
- Failed Pre-Collision – Ford Recalls Expedition, Navigator
- Ford Recalls a Recall on 2019 Ranger Pickup for Fires
- Ford Recalls Super Duty Vehicles for Carpet Fires
- Ford Recalls 311,907 Explorer SUVs for Dangerous Seat Frame
- Ford Recalls 1.2M Explorer Models and Others for Defects
- Ford Issues 2022 Integrated Sustainability and Financial Report
- EVs – Ford to Spend $11.4B Creating a Tennessee Campus, Twin Battery Plants in Kentucky
- Ford to Up Electrification Spend to $30B by 2025. Wants 40% All-Electric Global Volume By 2030
- Europe’s F-Series – All-Electric Ford E-Transit Revealed
Milestones – Production Begins for Ford F-150 Lightning EV
Ford Motor, whose existence was tenuous during the Great Recession, is now the top automaker in America in terms of 2021 production, sales of US-made vehicles and employment of hourly autoworkers. The F-150 Lightning is the only full-size electric pickup available now with a starting price less than $40,000. Ford F-Series has been America’s best-selling truck for 45 years running and is second only to the iPhone in revenue among all American consumer products, according to a 2020 study*1.
Ford claims unprecedented demand for the F-150 Lightning.
Whether Ford can maintain that position is far from assured given the investment involved and its ongoing costly quality problems. Right now Ford electric business Model e is hemorrhaging money. Ford claims it will be profitable around 2026 and it wants a 10% margin in profitability even with the enormous costs and complexity involved in migrating to EVs and away from internal combustion vehicles, aka ICE. Ford has confirmed its 2022 guidance of $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion in company adjusted EBIT. The high end of the range equates to a margin of 8% which, if achieved, would be one year earlier than the company’s previous target. (Ford to Up Electrification Spend to $30B by 2025. Wants 40% All-Electric Global Volume By 2030; Ford Motor Structure Threatens Viability. Vast Reorg Coming. More below)
Ford claims unprecedented demand for F-150 Lightning with 200,000 reservations and is expanding the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center to ramp up production to a planned annual rate of 150,000 in 2023. The company has invested a total of $950 million and created 750 jobs at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center. Ford’s investment in Michigan for F-150 Lightning now totals more than $1 billion, with 1700 recently created jobs spread among five Ford plants in the state, including Van Dyke Electric Powertrain Center, where Lightning electric motors and electric transaxles are assembled, and Rawsonville Components Plant, where Lightning batteries are assembled. Still, Michigan was badly hurt by Ford’s decision to invest heavily in Kentucky and Tennessee. (AutoInformed: EVs – Ford to Spend $11.4B Creating a Tennessee Campus, Twin Battery Plants in Kentucky)
Ford says it is on track to deliver more than 2 million electric vehicles annually by 2026, equal to about one-third of the company’s global volume. Ford projects 50% by 2030.
Jim Farley.
“America’s real transition to electric vehicles starts now,” said Ford President and CEO Jim Farley. “F-150 Lightning is just the beginning of our ambitions for growth and leadership in digital, electric vehicles. We continue to expand our EV manufacturing footprint across the U.S., including the start of site preparation at BlueOval City*2, which will enable us to meet the ever-increasing customer demand for our exciting EV line-up.”
*1: Ford assembles more vehicles in the U.S. than any other manufacturer based on S&P Global Mobility CYE 2021 US Light Vehicle Production data. Ford is No. 1 among high-volume automakers in American-assembled percent of American sales based on Ford’s analysis of S&P Global Mobility CYE 2021 Light Vehicle Production data. High volume manufacturers produce 500,000 units or more in a calendar year. Ford employs about 56,000 hourly workers in the U.S., more than any other automaker, based on Center for Automotive Research data.
*2: With its partner, SK Innovation, Ford plans to invest $11.4 billion and create ~11,000 new jobs at the Tennessee and Kentucky “mega-sites.” Overall, Ford expects 40% to 50% of its global vehicle volume to be fully electric by 2030. Both states are “right to work” (for less?) states, which means workers don’t have to be unionized. Tennessee sent $500 million in incentives from its taxpayers. Kentucky donated $300 million and what appears to be about 1500 acres of free land. Ford is apparently the latest automaker attempting to lay off some or more of the huge capital costs needed to build EVs as global warming make their increasing use inevitable.
An all-new $5.6 billion mega campus in Stanton, Tenn., dubbed Blue Oval City, will create ~6,000 new jobs and >pr babble alert> “re-imagine how vehicles and batteries are manufactured. Blue Oval City will become a vertically integrated ecosystem for Ford to assemble an expanded lineup of electric F-Series vehicles. It will include a BlueOvalSK battery plant, key suppliers and recycling. Ford’s new Tennessee assembly plant is designed to be carbon neutral with zero waste to landfill once fully operational… Blue Oval City will be among the largest auto manufacturing campuses in U.S. history.
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