Ford increases production volumes of its electric models
The Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit – all enjoy high customer demand in the USA. That’s why manufacturer Ford is now stepping on the gas pedal to boost production of its electric (and in some cases non-electric) models.
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Changes at the Cuautitlan plant in Mexico will nearly double the hourly production of the Mustang Mach-E, bringing the annual manufacturing rate to 210,000 units by the end of the year. “Mustang Mach-E helped propel Ford to No. 2 in US EV sales in 2022, and is bringing new customers to Ford, with more than two-thirds of customers coming from other makes,” the manufacturer writes in its press release. “We have had a strong start to 2023 sales and we are moving to fast-track quality production,” added Kumar Galhotra, president, Ford Blue. “Increasing production benefits both our customers and our business.”
In Michigan, production of the F-150 Lightning at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center is even expected to triple this year. By the end of 2023, Ford aims for an annual production rate of 150,000. The vehicle remains the best-selling electric truck in the United States. Ford sold 3,600 units this year through February and delivered 15,617 electric trucks in 2022.
Production of the F-150 Lightning will resume on 13 March after Ford discovered a possible battery problem a few weeks ago, forcing it to halt manufacturing. However, sales of electric trucks that had already been constructed continued.
At the Kansas City plant, Ford is also increasing production of the Transit and E-Transit by 38,000 units annually. Ford recently received an order for 9,250 E-Transits from the United States Postal Service (USPS). According to Ford, it will invest 95 million dollars in the expansion of production in Kansas and create 1,100 new jobs there.
The reason for the increase in production is increased demand from customers. According to the automaker, demand for electric cars continues to rise, saying its electric vehicle sales are up 68 per cent through February.
Update 09 June 2023
Ford is on track to increase production of the F-150 Lightning at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center this fall to reduce customer wait times. The high-demand F-150 Lightning XLT model gains the largest initial production increase with new retail orders made today estimated to deliver by September. Ford also continues to accept retail customer orders for the Lariat and Platinum models.
“Customer interest for XLT has considerably outstripped supply since the F-150 Lightning launch and we’ve worked with our suppliers to help address that,” said Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer, Ford Model e. In order to meet this demand, Ford is aiming to annually build around 500,000 of the electric pickups in Tennessee by 2025.
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