Capital Economy, Business and Finance
Ford has announced a seven-week shutdown of the Michigan factory where it makes the F-150 Lightning, the electric version of America’s most popular vehicle.
Is this one of the most startling course corrections in recent transport history, on a par with Airbus closing its A380 production line when it realised it had fundamentally misjudged demand for gigantic double-decker planes?
Or is it a road bump on the way to EV supremacy? In reality it’s probably a mix of price, design and mismatched product and target customer.
The cheapest version costs just under $50,000, nearly $20,000 more than its petrol cousin. But it looks identical, and unlike Tesla’s Cybertruck it takes zero advantage of EVs’ potential to shake things up because their motors and drivetrain occupy so little space.
And there’s not much proven appetite for electric power among habitual US pickup drivers, which is one reason Ford expects to lose $5 billion on EVs this year.
