Photo: Ford | Edited
Ford F-150 Lightning is the most popular electric pickup truck in the U.S., judging by the sales numbers, but its reputation was tainted when a truck caught fire on February 4. Ford announced a production halt initially planned to last until February 23 but decided to keep the production line closed for at least another week.
Despite having some of the hottest vehicles on the market, Ford still struggles to make ends meet, according to the 2022 financial results. CEO Jim Farley apologized for the lackluster performance and blamed it on the ongoing quality problems. Indeed, Ford was the most recalled car brand in the U.S. for the second year in 2022, and all those recalls surely took their toll on the bottom line.
The Blue Oval was trying to avoid another potentially costly recall in the case of the F-150 Lightning when it decided to stop production earlier this month. The decision was prompted by what the company called “a potential battery issue” that later was confirmed to be a battery fire. According to several accounts, an F-150 Lightning caught fire in a holding lot that stored vehicles awaiting quality review before shipment to dealers. Ford had to admit to that without offering other details. The carmaker issued a Stop-Build and In-Transit Stop Ship order, although it fell short of issuing a stop-sales order.
Based on initial estimates, production should’ve resumed by February 23, but Ford decided to take another week off. The decision is unusual considering that Ford’s battery supplier SK On has restarted battery cell production at its plant in Georgia. Ford said on Friday that the production is still suspended until the carmaker ensures SK On is back to building high-quality cells.
“The teams worked quickly to identify the root cause of the issue,” Ford said in a statement to CNBC. “We agree with SK’s recommended changes in their equipment and processes for SK’s cell production lines.”
Considering the production was stopped around February 6 and will not resume until March, this doesn’t sound like working quickly. According to sources consulted by Detroit Free Press, the fire was caused by a battery cell problem, so there wasn’t much Ford could do to speed things up. Still, extending the production halt after the carmaker agreed with SK On’s proposed solution indicates that Ford is not that eager to resume production.
One of the reasons could be that Ford doesn’t trust the solution and is waiting to see if it indeed works. Unless another truck catches fire in the meantime, this would be hard to test. Another reason could be that Ford is not that comfortable with restarting F-150 Lightning production. The carmaker is actually losing money with every F-150 Lightning truck it builds. The fewer units Ford makes, the less money it loses, so there is an incentive to produce fewer electric trucks. Not to mention that it can blame SK On for freezing production this time.
The Blue Oval was trying to avoid another potentially costly recall in the case of the F-150 Lightning when it decided to stop production earlier this month. The decision was prompted by what the company called “a potential battery issue” that later was confirmed to be a battery fire. According to several accounts, an F-150 Lightning caught fire in a holding lot that stored vehicles awaiting quality review before shipment to dealers. Ford had to admit to that without offering other details. The carmaker issued a Stop-Build and In-Transit Stop Ship order, although it fell short of issuing a stop-sales order.
Based on initial estimates, production should’ve resumed by February 23, but Ford decided to take another week off. The decision is unusual considering that Ford’s battery supplier SK On has restarted battery cell production at its plant in Georgia. Ford said on Friday that the production is still suspended until the carmaker ensures SK On is back to building high-quality cells.
“The teams worked quickly to identify the root cause of the issue,” Ford said in a statement to CNBC. “We agree with SK’s recommended changes in their equipment and processes for SK’s cell production lines.”
Considering the production was stopped around February 6 and will not resume until March, this doesn’t sound like working quickly. According to sources consulted by Detroit Free Press, the fire was caused by a battery cell problem, so there wasn’t much Ford could do to speed things up. Still, extending the production halt after the carmaker agreed with SK On’s proposed solution indicates that Ford is not that eager to resume production.
One of the reasons could be that Ford doesn’t trust the solution and is waiting to see if it indeed works. Unless another truck catches fire in the meantime, this would be hard to test. Another reason could be that Ford is not that comfortable with restarting F-150 Lightning production. The carmaker is actually losing money with every F-150 Lightning truck it builds. The fewer units Ford makes, the less money it loses, so there is an incentive to produce fewer electric trucks. Not to mention that it can blame SK On for freezing production this time.
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