According to media reports, a battery factory built by Ford Motor Company in Michigan is cutting production capacity and recruitment scale, because the company believes that the demand for electric vehicles will weaken.
On November 21st, Ford Motor Company said that it was resuming the construction of the Marshall factory, which was suspended two months ago. However, the battery output of the factory is about 20GWh, which is only enough to supply about 230,000 electric vehicles every year, which is lower than the 400,000 previously planned. The company said in a statement that the factory will start operation in 2026 and it is expected to have 1,700 employees instead of 2,500 originally planned.
The reduction in production capacity and recruitment scale is part of Ford's strategy to adjust electric vehicles, including delaying the new production capacity expenditure of electric vehicles by $12 billion. Ford had previously given up the plan to produce 2 million electric vehicles a year by the end of 2026, and now it is unwilling to disclose when it is expected to reach this milestone. In the third quarter of this year, the sales of the company's F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck dropped by 46%.
Mark Truby, Ford's chief public relations officer, told the media that the popularity of electric vehicles "has not increased at the speed expected by us or the whole industry. We hope to strictly abide by the capital allocation method and consider matching production and future production capacity according to demand. "
ruby said that Ford's total expenditure in the factory was originally set at $3.5 billion, but the total investment will be reduced accordingly according to the adjustment of production capacity, which is expected to drop to about $2 billion.
According to the report, after reaching an agreement with the United Auto Workers' Union (UAW) on a new labor contract, Ford decided to reduce the size of the Michigan factory. The new labor contract raises wages by 25% to $42 an hour. The factory is not unionized at present, but it is expected that UAW will target the factory and include it in its general labor agreement. Truby said, "Labor cost is one of the factors we consider."