Ford to Delay F-150 Production Amid Microchip Shortage
The ongoing global shortage of microchips, often referred to as semiconductors, is hitting America’s bestselling nameplate. Ford announced March 18 that it would build F-150 pickup trucks without certain parts and hold them for weeks before shipping the trucks to dealers when the parts arrive. The Michigan automaker said it would do the same for the Ford Edge, a mid-size SUV.
Related: Global Microchip Shortage Makes Now the Time to Shop for Cars
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“The global semiconductor shortage — combined with parts shortages created by the central U.S. winter storm in February — is prompting Ford to build F-150 trucks and Edge SUVs in North America without certain parts, including some electronic modules that contain scarce semiconductors,” Ford said in a statement. “Ford will build and hold the vehicles for a number of weeks, then ship the vehicles to dealers once the modules are available and comprehensive quality checks are complete.”
Separately, the automaker said it’s canceling three shifts at its Louisville, Ky., Assembly Plant, which builds the Escape and related Lincoln Corsair SUVs, due to the semiconductor shortage. (Lincoln is Ford’s luxury brand.) Full production will resume March 23.
If delays have begun, dealer inventory has yet to significantly reflect them. As of Dec. 29, when we set out to purchase our long-term F-150, Cars.com had roughly 36,000 new F-150s listed for sale nationwide, with about a third of them the redesigned 2021 models. Nearly three months later, the site had just shy of 38,000 new F-150s as of March 19. Eighty-six percent are 2021s.
Ford isn’t the only automaker impacted by the global microchip shortage. GM, Honda, Nissan, Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), Subaru, Toyota and Volkswagen have all had assembly lines idled in 2021 due to the semiconductor shortages.
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