This is not the first time that Ford has talked about the determining factor of electric cars in terms of politics. On this occasion, the comment came from Bill Ford, great-grandson of the founder. On certain occasions, some compromising comments about electric cars have been heard from Ford’s leadership, although they have not always been negative. The company doesn’t mince words when it comes to saying what it thinks. The latest of them has come from Bill Ford, great-grandson of the company’s founder and executive chairman.
A few days ago they sent an official statement from the company in which they announced the slowdown in the production of the Ford F-150 Lightning, their 100% electric pick-up, and, as Bill Ford himself expressed in an interview with The New York Times, part of the reason is due to how politicized electric vehicles are in the United States.
Ford, no matter what
The Ford F-150 Lightning arrived on the market to a whirlwind of cheers and popular acclaim. So much so that the electric pick-up received more than 200,000 reservations in less than six months of marketing. Last June 2023, the brand stated that it would triple its production by the end of the year. However, it seems that something has gone wrong for this particular vehicle.
Earlier this week, the company confirmed the slowdown in its manufacturing, directly attributing this fact to shortages in the supply chain and the quality controls to which they are exposed. However, it seems that all this may have an even more particular background.
Bill Ford, in the aforementioned interview, spoke about the ongoing contract negotiations with the UAW (the union that represents automobile workers in the United States and Canada) due to the multiple demonstrations and strikes that are taking place in North America. in the automotive sector. The current CEO of the company pointed out that “a line is forming between blue and red states when it comes to electric vehicles.” In clarifying terms, blue and red states refer to those governed by Democratic or Republican parties.
As we already mentioned, Bill Ford was blunt when he said that “electric vehicle sales are still up 50% this year, so sales are growing rapidly, but we’ve also seen a politicization of electric vehicles. The state Democrats say electric vehicles are great and we should adopt them as soon as possible for climate reasons. Some of the red states say this is like the vaccine, the government is shoving it down our throats and we don’t want it. I never thought “I would see the day when our products were so politicized, but they are .”
Bloomberg, refers to the difference in the policy on electric cars between the governments run by Joe Biden and the past president, Donald Trump. Biden is promoting the mass adoption of these zero-emission vehicles, while Trump has been against them, especially due to the strength that China has in these models.
On the other hand, during his interview, Ford pointed out that electric vehicles will continue to lower their purchase prices as new technologies are introduced. “Our first-generation electric vehicles, the Lightning and Mustang Mach-E, were developed based on internal combustion cars. The next generation, which will arrive quite soon, will be developed from a blank sheet of paper. “When you do that, you can start to reduce costs and then start pricing them accordingly.”
