Ford lays off 700 who were building electric version of F-150 | CNN Business::Ford is laying off about 700 workers who build the F-150 Lightning, the electric version of its best-selling pickup truck, and unlike other recent layoffs this one has nothing to do with the ongoing strike by the United Auto Workers union.
Wow. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like Ford’s future is going to be a struggle.
You can’t simultaneously be late to a growing market, back out of a growing market, and refuse to invest in a growing market and hope to succeed…can you?
Ford? More like the whole Western auto industry.
They do pretty gangbusters in the pickup market. They also have a hybrid power-train available. If you look at the current year list of Q1 sales they’re top of the heap.
Honestly if you want to use the vehicle for hauling it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The only reason Teslas and other cars do so well it by being a slippery and efficient as possible so they can get 100+MPGe. It doesn’t work so well with a trailer on, or the shape required to carry things in the back.
I don’t understand the sales argument. It’s my understanding that there is still a huge waiting list for these vehicles. It’s not like they’re sitting on lots… or are they?
It’s my understanding that there is still a huge waiting list for these vehicles. It’s not like they’re sitting on lots… or are they?
From what I’ve seen from folks that follow new car/truck sales it goes like this:
- Ford announces great product for reasonable price of lets say $45k
- Lots of folks sign up on waiting lists at the advertised price.
- Because of the dealership model, Ford has to sell/ship the product to a dealership.
- Dealership marks up the product $10k-$40k as a “Special Market Adjustment” then installs lots of non-optional options which raises the price by another $10k-$20k.
- Buyer on the waiting list comes in to pick up their order and sees what they were expecting to pay $45k now would cost them $85k.
- Buyer balks and dealership says “take it or leave it, we’ll sell it to someone else”.
- Buyer leaves.
- Buyer cancels their spot on the wait list.
- Dealership tries to sell it on the lot at $85k.
- Dealership does this to dozens of these vehicles.
- Dealership lot is full of these highly desired vehicles now NOT desirable because of the increased expense.
- Dealership cancels orders for additional units.
- Ford concludes “No one wants to buyers want our product even at $45k. We need to sell more gas vehicles. Thats what the buyers are telling us”.
- Ford lays off workers making the product that was formerly in high demand.
Yes, but Ford is also culpable. My understanding is they mostly made the higher end models to try to get profitable more quickly. Great, but no one can afford them. Part of the expected demand was for models people could afford to buy
“We had all these people on the waiting list for a $45k truck and we don’t understand why they’re not buying the $85k truck we’re mostly building”
It also doesn’t have to be this way. Other auto manufacturers dictate the terms to the dealerships, specifically with the market adjustments. They ensure the people who want their cars can afford their cars, regardless of what the market is doing.
Ford isn’t doing this and their cars are sitting on the lot because no one can afford them.
Could be the striking workers have disrupted component flow enough that these workers were running out of things to do.
Ford lays off 700 who were building electric version of F-150 | CNN Business::Ford is laying off about 700 workers who build the F-150 Lightning, the electric version of its best-selling pickup truck, and unlike other recent layoffs this one has nothing to do with the ongoing strike by the United Auto Workers union.
Not due to the strike, apparently.
Would a company ever admit to laying off workers because of a strike? Seems like a sure fire way to lose in court.
I guess it all depends on the motive
They’ve already said they would fire around 1000 of those striking workers. So this does not seem to be a concern.
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“I hate the new thing because it’s not the old thing”
While your parent also looks like trolling to me, and I also downvoted it for hatred without a reason … this could go in a more constructive direction if we’re considering truck buyers may be more conservative. Truck buyers do seem to be the last bastion of excessive brand loyalty, regardless of their own best interests
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Electric trucks were a mistake from the beginning, glad they’re finally realizing it.
How so?
It’s probably not what they were thinking but a Van can do most anything a truck can do except when it comes to off-road capabilities. For hauling and towing, a Van can usually do the same job without being a machine designed to kill pedestrians.
Ford lays off 700 who were building electric version of F-150 | CNN Business::Ford is laying off about 700 workers who build the F-150 Lightning, the electric version of its best-selling pickup truck, and unlike other recent layoffs this one has nothing to do with the ongoing strike by the United Auto Workers union.
Ugh, no I don’t want to throw a bunch of hay and straw inside a van, you’ll have straw stuck in the crevices of the dashboard forever.
I mean I very much want an electric truck just not for $70,000+, I need a a vehicle that can do the following:
- Carry a 4 person family
- Is reliable/newer/won’t break down
- Can do trips to the hardware store/hold lumber/drywall/etc on occasion
- Can move furniture/appliances on occasion
- Can move hay/straw on a semi regular basis
- Bonus points if I can take off road/on mountain trails
If there was an affordable electric truck that could do this I would buy it, but I bought my (used) Tacoma for about $25k 4 years ago and I really can’t justify anything more expensive then that.
So if they can bring electric trucks down in price, I will buy one, and I want it to look like a truck, I would never consider a cyber truck, thats beyond ugly.
Once a f150 lightning is as used as that Tacoma was when you bought it, then it should make sense. All the examples with issues from factory mistakes would have weeded themselves out of the used truck pool, and there should be enough newer fancier electric trucks to bring down the value of today’s trucks when they’re 5-10 years old.
As long as you’re not towing or road tripping, it should do everything on your list for a reasonable price. It just going to be a while.
We all have a similar scenario where vehicles are so expensive that we really need them to cover every use case. Married people at least have the option of different vehicles for different use cases
I have to admit, I’m considering whether I can swing two cars to better serve my needs: an EV most of the time, but keep my SUV for groups or carrying or road trips
No real towing or load hauling capability. Edison is the only company that seems to be honest about that and is working to overcome the problem.
I mean, if you make a diesel/electric hybrid, it isn’t going to be that hard to fix the problem. Still has emissions, though.
Look up Edison Motors. Diesel is very efficient if operated at its optimal fuel/air mixture at the right rpm, like what happens in a generator. Emissions are already coming out of coal and gas plants. We have a problem today with infrastructure. Trying to skip the transition by going straight to electric only will not work at scale. This is already being proven. And zero emissions is a myth. What we’re doing is shifting emissions upstream. Incremental improvements and gradual reductions using the existing infrastructure while the new infrastructure is organically built due to market pressure is the only way forward. Forcing the leap is failing and will continue to fail.
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Sales orders say differently. Since the majority of truck owners nowadays aren’t people who use them for work, they are popular, and nothing is wrong with them. They have more power than a gas truck as well.
Nothing is wrong with them?
OK, but that is a totally different topic than electric trucks are bad, which was the start of this discussion. Do I think that there should be less trucks on the road, yes. When I was younger, you didn’t own a truck unless you regularly hauled stuff in the bed, or towed stuff. Now people own them just because. But again, you have totally changed the topic here.
Hey, I’m not the one that said nothing is wrong with them and that they are good.
You’re still changing the subject. That has nothing to do with the original complaint. The person starting this part of the thread I’m sure just wants a gas or diesel engine. That is all they are complaining about. You’re making it about safety, it’s valid, but off topic for the current discussion.
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