We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars

Alternative Subsidy Roadkill 55 Comments

It couldn’t possibly be its complete and utter uselessness, no not that: Ford Slashes Price of Electric F-150 as Demand Weakens

Ford Motor on Monday reduced prices of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck by between $6,000 and nearly $10,000, the latest sign of sluggish demand for electric vehicles.

The price cuts come as inventories of unsold electric vehicles are rising on dealer lots, and follow several rounds of discounting by Tesla, the dominant seller of electric cars.

Ford is lowering prices after it temporarily halted production of the truck this year to upgrade its assembly line and increase output. By the fall, the company expects its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center near Detroit to be able to churn out 150,000 Lightnings a year, triple its current production capacity.

Competition in the electric vehicle business is growing more intense. Tesla said on Saturday that it had started producing its much delayed Cybertruck pickup, and General Motors is expected to soon begin delivering an electric version of the Chevrolet Silverado truck.

Ford began making the Lightning in the spring of 2022 and raised prices several times by a total of around $20,000, citing increasing cost of raw materials for its batteries.

55 Replies to “We Don’t Need No Flaming Sparky Cars”

  1. So after losing nearly $30k per vehicle, they’ve decided the best way to make them move is lose another $10k on vehicles no one wants?

    1. Not only that, triple production to go bankrupt faster. Lenin said that capitalists will make the rope upon which they will hang. Looks like EV’s are the 21st century substitute

  2. $92,000.00 for a pickup truck? WTHF!!?? That’s insane for a vehicle you can only drive to the local Ace Hardware and back to the charging dock.

    1. To be fair, you can trick out a number of pickups to around that level, but I’d rather have a raptor than a lightning.

      Ford would do better focusing on the hybrid than the lightning, but the ceo is going all in

    2. The GMC 3500 diesel I bought in 2015 had a sticker price of $85,000. I actually paid “only” $71,000 for it. Recently I saw a 2023 GMC 3500 diesel advertised for $128,000. I also saw a GMC half ton for $115K. Glad I sold mine. Driving a Honda Ridgeline now.

        1. I had a client just spend $115,000 on a pickup. That’s in Canadian yen so it’s a lot less in real money. Oh! And the guy is an asshole who never grew up. If I remember – 8 year financing.

    3. Kenji, the Lightnones are being listed in Bring Cash country for $130,000 on Autotrader, in Canadastani pesos.
      There’s a lot of suckers here buying the CAW BS, quite willing to mortgage their future for these awful vehicles. This from a lifetime Blue Oval guy, but I don’t recognize this company anymore.

  3. … citing increasing cost of raw materials for its batteries.

    You ain’t seen nothing yet, it’s just getting started.

  4. Meanwhile, Tesla’s stock is jumping now that they have produced one Cybertruck and investors actually believe that people will buy the dumbest looking vehicle on the road,

    2. In a race between the Honda Ridgeline passenger truck, the Pontiac Aztec and the Tesla Cybertruck, which wins for hitting the most ugly sticks while falling out of the design tree?

      1. #1 Aztec
        #2 Cybertruck
        #3 Ridgeline
        Almost all AMC cars get an honorable mention.

      1. I get what you’re saying, but I’m partial to the Shelby Mustangs…

      2. The Ferrari F430 works for us mortals. But if you sell your place in cali you can buy a 250 but won’t have a garage. No matter everybody lives in a motor home there now.

      3. Bah! The most beautiful automobile is the work of art of my red 66 Mustang convertible, not that I could even afford any vehicle that starts with ‘Ferr’.

        1. I’m counting on hitting the PowerBall jackpot tonight … before buying my 24 car garage … and filling it with $16m autos …

      4. Nahhhh… ’67 Jag XKE roadster**, though I could make a case for a ’39 Cord or the ’58 Mercedes Gullwing SL.

        But your point stands re Tesla styling, Kenji. No argument from me.

        **The Lucas electrics made sure XKEs sat by the side of the road during any rain event, light or heavy. But damn! They sure looked good while waiting for a tow.

        1. Do they have the dual carbs like old MG’s … that need to be tuned and sync’ed in pairs … or the car runs for shit?

          And I’m a sucker for a James Bond 63 Aston Martin … a beautiful shape

          1. XKE’s had dual SU carbs. The V12’s had 4, 2 on each side. I’m partial to the XK’s (120-140-150). Have an XK150-S with 3 carbs and a V12 XKE with 4 carbs. Can’t tune either one though. Have an MGA too, and a TR-4, and … a sickness for cars that don’t run.

          1. Peter, my preference is the TR5, ideally in white. I really like the TR4 body style and it has the more powerful 6 cylinder engine.

  5. I’m surprised 81 million Democrats haven’t bought EVs.

    I mean they voted (he,he) for them.

    1. It’s one thing to signal your virtue at the polls.

      Quite another to actually “ante up” by buying an EV, disposing of your second house, stopping those vacation flights and cutting off the air conditioning in the name of climate change.

      1. Democrats and Liberals will one day wake up and say “What happened?”

        Unfortunately for them, by that time the government social credit program will kick in and their complaints will only allow them to purchase crickets, tofu, and lentils; until they repent from criticizing their Democrat betters.

      2. I need to rent out some rooms just to afford my monthly truck payments !! And then I’ll hate living in a crowded house, so I’ll just go live in my car … down by the river

    2. Lefties ALWAYS expect someone else to pay, never themselves. Big business, rich people (but not entertainer or sports rich people) industry, oil companies, etc., all of them must somehow magically decarbonize everything while leaving the lefties untouched and their lifestyles better than ever.

  6. Say what you want about Musk (and I can’t stand him or his subsidy farming MO) but he did manage to keep demand ahead of supply and there was always something better just around the corner with Tesla’s product cadence.

    With a glut of electric sports cars, commuter cars, SUVs and now pickups (and work vans…) from multiple manufactures, well, what’s left? These manufactures like Ford are holding a multi-billion dollar bag.

    1. It seems that the masters of the world want car manufacturers to bankrupt themselves. It’s politically risky to ban cars and private car ownership, wso force them to build EV’s, then cripple ICE vehicles and create obstacles for petroleum. Voila! No more car manufacturing, no more private ownership, no more uncontrolled mobility and suddenly you have serfs living in their 15 minute ghettos.

      Malevolent isn’t it?

      1. And if a black swan event that rhymes with 2008 happens again there’s a ready made drain to pull that takes away this pesky inflation causing liquidity. Maybe good-paying, green, union jobs won’t be worth a bailout next time around.

      3. GregN….applause. You nailed it concisely. And, yes, it is malevolent, but they will fail.
        Why will they fail? Because what was hidden is coming to light. And they hate the light.
        Vampires and sunshine.
        Keep the faith.

  7. The globalists are trying to convince the general public (in a lot of cases, successfully) by lying about the cost-benefit ratios of going green. That you will save the environment if you adopt a different life habit and that the economic pain will be worth the change you make with government assistance. There is no proof, mind you, just nonstop media bovine excrement propaganda, more lies and some slight taxpayer (read “Government A robbing citizen B a the point of a legal gun to give to citizen C” ) incentives to nudge you in that direction. None of this is morally correct or just, but because might makes right is the current moral framework, politicians sacrifice your lifestyle to remain in their preferred positions of power.

  8. Eventually the scam of EV’s will run it’s course and a better alternative to gasoline will be discovered or invented.

    This was never about finding a successful alternative, but about making profits from billions in subsidies.
    I hear hydrogen might be the next big thing, and I suppose some well connected grifters will take more billions in taxpayer’s money.

    We in the West developed countries need a revolution and a massive enema forced on the political clubs that run our countries on behalf of the oligarchs. A French style revolution would be best.

  9. “Sales have tanked, so let’s build tonnes more of them!”

    I’m sure that’ll work.

  10. Going through a book “The Motor Car” by David Burgess Wise I found the quote “the nation’s oil reserves would all be exhausted by 1932” stemming from just after WWI. This led to a push for electric vehicles and we can see how that went!

    1. The 1921 Detroit Electric could go 200+ miles on a charge, which was further than some of the “modern” electric vehicles.

      What killed the battery vehicles, was the electric starter on gas cars, which made them a lot safer to start.

  11. A truck for people who don’t need trucks.. Almost as good as cars for people who don’t need cars.. Of course they are going to hit the wall.. The early adopter influencers are not quite as influential as they think they are..

    Its a good thing the government owns the auto industry through endless bailouts.. Another one? who is counting?.. Not me..

    The hard truth.. We do more than just commute to work and go to the grocery store.. Beyond that, if applicable EVs suck.. A junkie range stress road trip.. No question mark needed..

  12. Great if the only thing you intend to move is your virtue signaling ass and not too far at that.

  15. The marginal consumer is tapped out, even for the purchase of a conventional vehicle, let alone the peripheral EV market.

  16. Which is more useless and less desired by consumers: 1) a paywalled NYT article or 2) the Ford electric truck?

  18. I have an open challenge to anyone promoting EV pickup trucks or SUVs: just replicate a trip I did a few years back in my diesel SUV.

    Drive from Southern Ontario to northern Alberta, pick up a 30ft long trailer weighing over 3,000lb (with terrible aerodynamics) and tow it back. In one week.

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