Lost in the chaos of last week’s sales and earnings news was a tidbit from the Detroit Free Press noting that Ford has secured a supply of microchips for its F-series production lines — a critical step toward restoring sales trajectory. of the company in 2021.
Sometimes in 2021 Ford was forced to shut down production of its bread-and-butter pickup line due to a lack of supplies, but on top of that, it also has a large inventory of near-complete pickups waiting for delayed electronic components. . due to the ongoing shortage. These waiting trucks are expected to be the first beneficiaries of Ford’s fresh supply of microchips.
Following the post-lockdown recovery, Ford’s volumes plummeted in the first half of the year as it simply cannot carry enough pickups and SUVs to meet demand. While F-series sales are down just 1.5% for the year so far, June saw a drop of nearly 30% as the gap between demand and available inventory continued to widen.
We’ve reached out to Ford to find out if the company expects this to be a turning point for F-series production. Production spokesman Kelli Felker said only that Ford estimates the full recovery period for chip deliveries “will extend into the fourth quarter of this year and possibly 2022.”
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