Photo by Ford is pulling workers off its stalled electric truck line and tossing them back into its bread-and-butter operation; gas and hybrid F‑150 production.
On Thursday, the company announced it’s transferring all hourly staff from its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, to the nearby Dearborn Truck Plant to push out more units of the F-Series, especially the F-150.
This comes as Ford sets a new goal: boost F-Series output by 50,000 trucks in 2026, all in efforts of making up for lost ground after a fire broke out at Novelis’ Oswego facility in September.
This isn’t the first time Ford’s electric division got hit. Back in late 2024, the company also paused F-150 Lightning production for seven weeks, trying to cut costs as demand slowed.
Ford freezes EV push to double down on gas trucks
The Novelis’ Oswego plant supplies a big chunk of aluminum used in Ford’s trucks, so the blaze hit its supply chain hard.
Ford’s finance chief warned during Thursday’s earnings call that the fire may burn up to $2 billion from the company’s Q4 2025 adjusted profits.
James Farley, the company’s CEO, also said during the earnings call, “We are adding up to 1,000 new jobs to increase F-Series production to recover lost volume and fulfill strong customer demand.” And part of that plan means freezing production of the F‑150 Lightning, which is built at the now-empty Rouge Electric Vehicle Center.
According to the press release, “F‑150 Lightning assembly at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center will remain paused as Ford prioritizes gas and hybrid F‑Series trucks, which are more profitable for Ford and use less aluminum.”
So every single person working at that plant is getting reassigned to focus on the gas and hybrid models that actually make money right now.
Ford brought in $50.5 billion in revenue during Q3, up 9% from the same time in 2024. Its stock has climbed 11.6% in the past year.
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