Ford’s shake-up of its electrical car plans didn’t finish after it delayed its battery manufacturing targets and lower investments in its Mannequin e division final 12 months. Reviews out of Dearborn, Michigan, now recommend that from subsequent week onwards, Ford will drastically scale back the workforce on the plant that builds the F-150 Lightning electrical truck.
Just one-third of the two,100 staff will proceed to stay on-site on the Rouge Electrical Car Middle from April 1, Jessica Enoch, the director of producing, high quality and supply-chain communications at Ford instructed the Detroit Free Press yesterday. A few of this workforce will now be transferred to construct gas-powered SUVs and vehicles.
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Ford continues to reevaluate its EV targets
Regardless of having a powerful February for EV gross sales, Ford remains to be scaling again the timelines for its electrification targets. Whereas it continues to give attention to constructing reasonably priced EVs for the long run, it is shifting focus within the interim in the direction of hybrids and its gasoline line-up.
The report added that about 700 staff will head to the Michigan Meeting Plant in Wayne, the place the Bronco and the Ranger are manufactured. The Dearborn automaker expects one other 700 staff to take the $50,000 retirement bundle that the United Auto Staff and Ford negotiated after final 12 months’s labor union talks.
Because the Rouge Electrical Car Middle loses two of its three crews, the Michigan Meeting Plant now positive aspects a 3rd crew. This rejig comes after Ford slashed about 700 jobs on the EV plant in October 2023 citing points with supply-chain and high quality checks. Ford confirmed to InsideEVs on the time that the job cuts had been unrelated to the UAW strikes.
This shuffling of staff gained’t lead to layoffs, Enoch stated. Ford has already halved the F-150 Lightning manufacturing goal for 2024, lowering it from 3,200 items weekly to 1,600 items—the reshuffle is presumably a part of that plan. Ford didn’t instantly reply to InsideEVs request for remark on the time of publication.
The information comes although Ford EV gross sales grew considerably in February 2024 12 months over 12 months. Mustang Mach-E gross sales had been up 63% final month, whereas F-150 Lightning gross sales had been up 94%. Nevertheless, it looks like supplier stock for the electrical truck stays excessive.