Ford’s BlueOval to Delay Production of All-Electric Vehicle

STANTON, Tenn. — Production of Blue Oval City’s highly anticipated all-electric vehicle is delayed from the original plan of 2025 to a new date in 2027.

On Wednesday, Ford Motor Company announced they are delaying its electric vehicle strategy because of tough competition from other automakers with lower costs. Blue Oval City first started construction just over two years ago. Construction workers labored around the clock to build both the Ford and SK Battery plants as side-by-side projects. A new Tennessee College of Applied Technology was also constructed on the Memphis Megasite in Haywood County.

Local industrial developers have concentrated their efforts in recent years to possibly land a supplier to Ford. Carroll County sits in the ‘sweet spot’, halfway between Ford in Stanton and a battery manufacturer in Kentucky.

According to Tennessee Outlook, an online publication, Construction on the new campus continues, and the Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center where the truck will be manufactured still plans to employ 3,000 workers, a Ford spokesperson confirmed. The campus’ battery plant — a joint venture between Ford and SK — will make up the remaining jobs needed to fulfill Ford’s promise that the campus would create 5,800 jobs. Tennessee lawmakers approved nearly $1 billion for the $5.6 billion project three years ago.

A spokesperson said Ford remains confident it will meet requirements set in that incentives deal.

“West Tennessee is a linchpin in our plan to create a strong and growing Ford in America. BlueOval City will be one of the most advanced manufacturing complexes anywhere in the world, and we are counting on the workforce in West Tennessee to produce advanced batteries starting next year, and then our most innovative pickup ever starting in 2027,” Ford President and CEO Jim Farley said in an emailed statement.

The postponement decision is part of a shift in the Michigan automaker’s electric vehicle strategy, which will scrap plans for an all-electric three-row SUV and prioritize hybrid vehicles. The company will reduce its yearly capital expenditures for pure electric vehicles from 40% to about 30%, according to a Wednesday news release.

When Ford announced its plans for the BlueOval City campus in Stanton in 2021, the company set an initial production goal in 2025.

But a down-shift in electric vehicle demand and swelling market competition pushed Ford to reassess, the company stated.

Ford will now focus its electric vehicle efforts “where it has competitive advantages” with plans to roll out production on a new all-electric commercial van in 2026 in Ohio, followed by a mid-sized pickup truck designed by Ford’s California skunkworks team and the next-generation pickup to be assembled at BlueOval City’s Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center in 2027.

Talk of a delay at BlueOval has been swirling since early June amid slowing demand for electric vehicles, including the company’s F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck. In late 2023, Ford CFO John Lawler said the company’s electric vehicle unit was on track to lose $1.3 billion that year.

Pushing back the timeline allows Ford to implement lower-cost battery technology in the next-generation pickup to make it more price-competitive, the release states.

Source: by Cassandra Stephenson - August 22, 2024, Tennesseeoutlook.com.