Right now, Ford is sort of like Barry Bonds in 2001: Home run after home run after home run. And, much like Bonds, the Blue Oval isn’t seeing the sort of monetary success that would come with this many homers. Barry had 73 home runs, and Ford has had the new Bronco, F-150 Lightning, Maverick, and Lincoln Navigator. And now the company is pausing production due to chip shortages.
In a recent earnings call, Ford CEO Jim Farley and CFO John Lawler were called on to break down why the company missed Wall Street’s Q4 earnings expectations. On top of that, shares of Ford dropped 9.7 percent last Friday.
So, what gives? Why is Ford — a company with multiple smash hits in a row — struggling? And why did Barry Bonds, the home run king, get denied a spot in the Hall of Fame? Well, let’s concentrate on the Ford stuff, since this is a car website and all.
It all has to do with the chip shortage. The company has confirmed — according to CNBC — that it would be pausing production next week for the Bronco, Explorer, F-150, Ranger, Mustang Mach-E, Transit and Lincoln Aviator. This will impact plants in three states as well as one in Mexico.
“The global semiconductor shortage continues to affect Ford’s North American plants – along with automakers and other industries around the world,” Ford wrote in a statement. “Behind the scenes, we have teams working on how to maximize production, with a continued commitment to building every high-demand vehicle for our customers with the quality they expect.”
Ford sold 1.9 million vehicles in the U.S. in 2021. That is down 6.8 percent from the year before. Again, this is mostly — if not completely — due to the semiconductor chip shortage and supply chain woes.
Right now, it seems to only be a one-week pause. It remains to be seen if the pause will extend past that or if this plan will impact orders people have already made for the affected vehicles.