DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. is again cutting production of the nation’s bestselling vehicle due to an ongoing shortage of semiconductors roiling the auto industry.
The automaker said Wednesday that F-150 production at its truck plant in Dearborn, Mich., will be down the weeks of April 5 and 12 and it will cancel overtime there the weeks of April 26, May 10, May 31 and June 21. The truck side of its other F-150 plant, Kansas City Assembly, will go down the week of April 5. Overtime for the truck side of the plant will be canceled the weeks of April 12, April 19, April 26, May 3, May 10, May 17, June 7 and June 14.
The van side of Kansas City Assembly, where workers build the Transit, will slash overtime the weeks of April 5, 12 and 19.
Additionally, Ford said its Louisville Assembly Plant, where workers make the Escape and Lincoln Corsair crossovers, will be down the weeks of April 12 and 19. Oakville Assembly in Ontario, Canada, home to the Edge and Lincoln Nautilus crossovers, will be down the weeks of April 12, 19 and 26.
Ford will also cut overtime at its Chicago Assembly Plant the week of April 5, and at its Ohio Assembly Plant the weeks of April 12 and 26.
Ford has said the chip shortage could shave $1 billion to $2.5 billion off 2021 profits.
The automaker has said it is trying to protect production of its most profitable vehicles, but the company has been forced to curtail F-150 output multiple times since the start of the year.
Ford’s head of U.S. sales, Andrew Frick, mentioned the F-150 as one of a handful of nameplates that have been especially impacted by the shortage in a letter to dealers earlier this month.