Ford F-150 Lightning production will remain paused for the foreseeable future. After the devastating fire at Novelis’s aluminum plant in Oswego, New York, the automaker will shift its production priorities, increasing gas and hybrid F-Series output 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 recover production losses stemming from the fire.” Ford is prioritizing its gas 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 Ford prioritizing profitable models that use less aluminum makes sense given the automaker’s situation.
The move means employees at Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center, where it builds the Lightning, will transfer to a new third crew to build gas-powered pickups at the automaker’s Dearborn Truck plant. The automaker will also hire additional workers to support the production increase, creating up to 900 new jobs.
Photo by: Ford
Ford will also increase output 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 that will result in one additional truck being built every hour, or more than 5,000 a year.
It’s unclear how long Ford will keep Lightning production paused. Sales for the electric truck were up nearly 40 percent in Q3 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 so far this year.
That’s a minuscule amount compared to the rest of the F-Series lineup. Ford sold nearly 200,000 gas and hybrid trucks last quarter and has sold nearly 600,000 of them through the end of September, up 13 percent. Ford must make what the people want.
