Production of the Ford F-150 Lightning will remain paused for the foreseeable future. Following the devastating fire at the Novelis aluminum plant in Oswego, New York, the automaker will shift its production priorities, increasing production of the gas and hybrid F-Series in the first quarter of 2026.
The automaker plans to build more than 50,000 additional trucks next year to “meet strong customer demand and offset production losses due to the fire.” Ford is prioritizing its gasoline and hybrid trucks because they are “more profitable” for the automaker and “use less aluminum” than the Lightning.
The fire, which occurred on September 16, severely damaged the building and could cost the Blue Oval as much as $1 billion as it recovers from the disruption. The F-150 uses a lot of aluminum in its construction, so it makes sense for Ford to prioritize profitable models that use less aluminum given the automaker’s situation.
The move means workers at Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, where it builds the Lightning, will be transferred to a new third shift to build gas-powered pickups at the automaker’s Dearborn Truck plant. The automaker will also hire additional workers to support production increases, creating up to 900 new jobs.
Photo by: Ford
Ford will also increase production at its Kentucky Truck plant, where the company will hire 100 new employees. The automaker is also making a $60 million investment in the facility, which will result in an additional truck being built every hour, or more than 5,000 per year.
It is unclear how long Ford will pause Lightning production. Sales of the electric truck rose nearly 40 percent in the third quarter of 2025, with Ford selling just over 10,000 pickups. Lightning sales are up just 1.0 percent for the 2026 model year, with the automaker selling 23,034 units so far this year.
That’s a minuscule amount compared to the rest of the F-series lineup. Ford sold nearly 200,000 gasoline and hybrid trucks last quarter and has sold nearly 600,000 through the end of September, an increase of 13 percent. Ford needs to make what the people want.
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