Ford has announced a massive surge in electric vehicle production for this year, leveraging its lead over its traditional rivals.
Despite Ford entering the EV market significantly behind Tesla and even trailing General Motors, its vehicles have quickly overtaken its traditional rivals, making the Blue Oval the second most popular EV brand in the United States. Now Ford has announced its latest EV production ram, hoping to maintain its lead as more competitors enter the market in the coming years.
The latest electric vehicle manufacturing rampage aims to boost production of Ford’s most popular models. The Ford Mustang Mach-E, the electric SUV that helped cement Ford’s lead in electric vehicles after its launch in 2021 and remains the brand’s most popular electric vehicle, gets the biggest bump, while the F-150 Lightning and E-Transit then get more minor production bumps.
The Mustang Mach-E production ramp-up began last week and aims to double hourly production, aiming for an annual production rate of 210,000 vehicles by the end of the year. The F-150 Lightning, which will resume production on the 13th of this month, aims to triple annual production, an annual production rate of 150,000 vehicles, by the end of the year. The truck production ramp will cost $2 billion at three Ford manufacturing facilities in Michigan, including the main manufacturing facility, the Rouge EV Center.
The E-Transit is getting a more conservative production push, targeting an annual production rate of 38,000 vehicles at the Kansas City Assembly Plant, which produces the Transit and E-Transit vans.
Other popular models, including the Ford Maverick and the Ford Bronco Sport, are also getting production increases to help the Blue Oval stay ahead of demand for the popular, affordable models.
Ford’s latest electric vehicle production effort is part of its larger plan to reach an annual production rate of 2 million vehicles by 2026.
The production boost follows Ford’s recently announced sales statistics for February, which saw electric car sales jump 68%, helping the company increase its overall market share by 1.4%.
Ford’s aggressive EV production ramp only becomes much more apparent when compared to its big three siblings. General Motors, which beat Ford in the EV market with its popular Chevy Bolt model, has yet to introduce competitors to Ford’s Mustang Mach-E or F-150 Lighting and expects production of its Chevy Silverado EV by the end of this year to start. Those looking for a mid-size GM electric SUV like the Chevy Equinox EV or Blazer EV will have to wait even longer, as both models are due sometime in 2024.
This is not to say that GM has not planned a manufacturing disaster at all. General Motors CEO Mary Barra has indicated that the auto group will produce 400,000 electric cars in North America in 2022 and 2023. However, model-specific production numbers have not yet been published.
Stellantis brands are even further behind. RAM plans to introduce its first all-electric truck, the RAM 1500 REV, in 2025. Dodge has yet to unveil EVs in a production-ready form. And while Jeep recently launched its first electric car in Europe, it’s only slightly ahead of its sister brands, with the first Jeep electric cars also coming to North America in 2025.
Ford remains a leader in electrification, at least relative to the other three major manufacturers, and possibly globally, and this significant uptick in EV production is likely to be critical to maintaining that position.
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