Ford to dramatically cut hourly workforce at F-150 Lightning plant in Dearborn

[silvrsvt]

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2024/03/27/ford-rouge-electric-vehicle-center-dearborn-cuts/73117641007/

 

Quote

 A crew of 700 will be transferred to the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne to build the Bronco and Ranger while the remaining 700 or so will either take the $50,000 retirement package negotiated during the 2023 contract talks or accept reassignment in southeast Michigan. Ford is adding a third crew at Michigan Assembly.

 

Edited March 28 by silvrsvt

[ice-capades]

Old news that was announced in January. 

[Rick73]

Article sounds like a lot of excuses as to why Lightning sales haven’t materialized to forecasted levels.  Too big and heavy, inefficient, batteries not good enough, low range, charging too slow, etc.  While mostly correct, it doesn’t explain why senior managers didn’t know or else ignored this common information ahead of time.

[akirby]

4 minutes ago, Rick73 said:

Article sounds like a lot of excuses as to why Lightning sales haven’t materialized to forecasted levels.  Too big and heavy, inefficient, batteries not good enough, low range, charging too slow, etc.  While mostly correct, it doesn’t explain why senior managers didn’t know or else ignored this common information ahead of time.

The forecasts were simply overinflated based on reservations and other factors such as huge price increases.  Has nothing whatsoever to do with inefficiency.  

[Rick73]

Just now, akirby said:

The forecasts were simply overinflated based on reservations and other factors such as huge price increases.  Has nothing whatsoever to do with inefficiency.  

I completely disagree with you.  These guys at that level get paid mega bucks to see beyond the obvious, like ridiculous meaning and value of worthless reservations.  As just one example is the quote from Lawler below.  The physical limitations were know and they just ignored them, or figured there was an endless supply of rich guys with money to burn.  It’s not rocket science.  Your continuous defense of inefficient electric vehicle that most people can’t afford and won’t buy makes no sense, other than your personal bias for large vehicles like F-150.  We need to separate our own vehicle preferences from business decisions.

 

So yeah, inefficiency as supported by Ford quote below is EXACTLY what drives cost up, and makes people not want to buy, along with other factors like shorter range and slower charging.  It’s all connected, and these guys getting paid millions should have know better.

 

 

"The bigger the vehicle, the bigger the battery. And the battery is the most expensive thing in the vehicle. And then the bigger the battery, the more weight. The more battery you need, the less efficient the vehicle is," Lawler said. "So the costs just spiral out of control."

[akirby]

9 minutes ago, Rick73 said:

I completely disagree with you.  These guys at that level get paid mega bucks to see beyond the obvious, like ridiculous meaning and value of worthless reservations.  As just one example is the quote from Lawler below.  The physical limitations were know and they just ignored them, or figured there was an endless supply of rich guys with money to burn.  It’s not rocket science.  Your continuous defense of inefficient electric vehicle that most people can’t afford and won’t buy makes no sense, other than your personal bias for large vehicles like F-150.  We need to separate our own vehicle preferences from business decisions.

 

So yeah, inefficiency as supported by Ford quote below is EXACTLY what drives cost up, and makes people not want to buy, along with other factors like shorter range and slower charging.  It’s all connected, and these guys getting paid millions should have know better.

 

 

"The bigger the vehicle, the bigger the battery. And the battery is the most expensive thing in the vehicle. And then the bigger the battery, the more weight. The more battery you need, the less efficient the vehicle is," Lawler said. "So the costs just spiral out of control."

I have no bias here except facts.  Fact is almost everyone projected a huge increase in EV sales.  Ford had Lightning reservations and sales to back up that forecast.  If they were still selling them for the original prices with the original tax credits they’d be selling a lot more.  Even your last quote says it’s about costs.

Look at what happened to Mach-E sales when they lost the tax credit vs when they dropped prices.

 

People still want large less efficient vehicles regardless of propulsion and a large number don’t mind paying for it.  The only place I think Ford miscalculated is that EV truck buyers are not necessarily the same as ICE truck buyers.

 

 

The only issue here is sales volume.  And obviously to get high volume you need smaller cheaper vehicles.  But that’s not the entire market.

[coupe3w]

This should help sales......

 

https://www.dragzine.com/news/ford-mustang-cobra-jet-1800-sets-full-bodied-electric-car-record/

[jpd80]

9 hours ago, Rick73 said:

I completely disagree with you.  These guys at that level get paid mega bucks to see beyond the obvious, like ridiculous meaning and value of worthless reservations.  As just one example is the quote from Lawler below.  The physical limitations were know and they just ignored them, or figured there was an endless supply of rich guys with money to burn.  It’s not rocket science.  Your continuous defense of inefficient electric vehicle that most people can’t afford and won’t buy makes no sense, other than your personal bias for large vehicles like F-150.  We need to separate our own vehicle preferences from business decisions.

 

So yeah, inefficiency as supported by Ford quote below is EXACTLY what drives cost up, and makes people not want to buy, along with other factors like shorter range and slower charging.  It’s all connected, and these guys getting paid millions should have know better.

 

 

"The bigger the vehicle, the bigger the battery. And the battery is the most expensive thing in the vehicle. And then the bigger the battery, the more weight. The more battery you need, the less efficient the vehicle is," Lawler said. "So the costs just spiral out of control."

Much of the blame for perceive or real inefficiency with the current Lighting stems from Bill Ford 

insisting that Jim Hackett find a way to bring a BEV F150 to market ASAP, so much of what we see

is a result of top down pressure ripping $11 billion in funding from then (2018) existing ICE platforms 

to make his BEV dreams come true. Just stop and think about the hubris of Ford Motor thinking that

it can catch up to Tesla by spending oceans of company money without the correct starting point.

 

The reason that things like Lightning are inefficient are because Ford tries to reuse so much of its

existing parts and supply chain, at the time, I’m sure that the mindset still saw BEV as a powertrain 

and gas tank change…….Seriously, I think Ford has to own its mistakes and learn from them and 

not just blame bad timing or external source or Tesla will keep running away with BEV sales growth.