Ford delays the launch of its electric pick-up: Does it focus on cheaper electric vehicles?

In many cases, reports on production delays come from unconfirmed internal sources, but not this time. Ford has confirmed that he recently informed the suppliers of another delay to the electric truck scheduled for their Blueoval City plant in Tennessee. Production will begin now in 2028. The company has also backed up the electric van for its Ohio facilities at the same year.

“The F-150 Lightning, the best-selling electric truck in the United States, and the e-transit continues to meet the current needs of customers.” Reuters The company cites, and that Ford “will be agile when adjusting the launch calendar of our products to meet the needs of the market and customer demand, while we propose to improve profitability.”

When Ford announced for the first time the new electric pick-up-whose code name is T3-. In the spring of 2023, production had to begin in 2025. In April 2024, which moved to 2026. The last decision adds another two -year delay. Also in April 2024, Ford postponed the production of an electric SUV of three rows of seats planned for its Oakville plant (Canada) until 2027. Only a few months later in 2008, Ford completely abandoned the production of VE in Oakville in favor of the hybrids, and put in pause the work in the large electric SUV of six or seven places.

At the end of July, Ford communicated its results of the second quarter. The losses of the Model Electric Vehicle Division and amounted to 1.3 billion dollars even though the revenues doubled. For the whole year 2025, the address expects Model and register losses of 5.5 billion dollars. Ford faces a cost challenge: it cannot set a price low enough to go to boost the greatest demand it needs.

Ford also states that he has observed a change in demand. Growth no longer comes from the high margin premium segment, a key reason to stop the large SUV. “The VE Pure market in the US seems very clear to us: small vehicles used to go to work and move around the city,” said Ford CEO, Jim Farley, analysts at a conference on results last week. He announced an event in Kentucky on August 11 to present the next models and technologies of Ford.

Current indications suggest that Farley will present new more affordable electric models, an assumption backed by its recent statements and decisions about electric pick and van. The calendar and prices of these new models remain to be known, at least until August 11.

reuters.com, yahoo.com, detroitnews.com

This article was first published by Sebastian Schaal for the German edition of Electrive.