Ford has closed down the F-150 pickup truck plants in Dearborn, Michigan and Louisville, Kentucky due to ‘tepid demand’. Both plants will remain closed the rest of the year. The moves are part of Ford’s efforts to “align capacity with demand,” Ms. Gattari said.
The Dearborn plant will resume production at the start of the New Year, Ms. Gattari said. Workers are also scheduled to return to the Louisville factory just after New Year’s, a person familiar with the matter said. Ford, along with Detroit competitors General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, has suffered sharp sales declines among its pickups and SUVs. F-Series pickups are off 12.4% through November, while Explorer sales have plunged 23.5%, according to Autodata Corp. Overall, Ford-brand light-duty truck sales, which include pickups and SUVs, have dropped 6.1%.