Good morning! It’s Friday, April 12, 2024, and this is The morning shift, your daily roundup of the biggest automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
1st Gear: Ford cuts price of Lightning electric vehicles by up to $5,500
If that’s what you’re looking for Get a cheap electric vehicleNow is a good time to head to dealers as companies across the US are slashing prices on their electric models. Tesla has reduced costs its range for months, Lucid followed suit and Fisker even offers it Electric SUV for less than $25,000. Now Ford is the latest automaker to cut prices on its electric models, slashing the cost of an F-150 Lightning pickup by thousands.
Ford has saved up to $5,500 on certain models of the F-150 Lightning to boost sales of the electric pickup truck Deliveries resumed weeks after a stop-ship order was issued, reports Bloomberg. As the website explains:
Ford Motor Co. has cut prices for its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck by as much as 7.5% as its EV inventory surges, and the automaker prepares to resume deliveries this month , having previously been stopped due to an undisclosed quality issue.
The price cuts, implemented April 5, partially reversed January price increases as Ford cut production of its signature electric vehicle in half and eliminated labor relocation. The biggest discount of $5,500 is on the extended-range Flash model, which now starts at $67,995, the automaker said.
Ford said via email that the cuts will help it “adapt to the market and achieve the optimal mix of sales growth and customer value.”
ford stopped sales of the F-150 Lightning The company issued a stop order for electric trucks as early as February 2024. The order was placed due to a quality problem Ford was forced to speak out. While the company dealt with the issue, production of the Lightning appeared to have continued, with inventory of the electric truck now growing to over 130 days worth, Bloomberg reports.
The oversupply triggered the cut Prices for the electric truckwhich is also eligible for other factory incentives and tax breaks announced under the Inflation Reduction Act.
2nd gear: Polestar sales plunge 40 percent in the first quarter
As Ford prepares to begin delivering its electric truck again, the Swedish automaker Polestar is hoping for a delivery boost of itself after disappointing sales were announced for the beginning of 2024. According to the brand’s latest figures, sales amount to the fancy electric cars fell by 40 percent in the first three months of the year.
The decline in sales meant that Polestar only delivered 7,200 vehicles in the first quarter. reports Reuters. That figure was below the more than 12,000 cars the company sold this time last year. As Reuters explains:
An increase in deliveries of the two luxury SUVs Polestar 3 and Polestar 4 will contribute to sales in the second half of the year, CEO Thomas Ingenlath said in a statement.
“These two cars will form the basis for strong sales and margin development in the second half of the year and support our goals for 2025,” said Ingenlath.
The company aims to deliver 155,000 to 165,000 cars in 2025.
Until now, Deliveries of the new Polestar 4 only started in China, and the company received around 1,200 units of the new car at the beginning of the year. The Polestar 4 and 2 will soon be joined by the Polestar 3 SUV, which it is hoped will provide relief increase the company’s sales in markets like the USA
Sale of the Polestar 3 are planned The starting shot will be given in the second quarter of 2024, and the Polestar 4 will be launched in Australia and Europe, among others, in the coming months. Hopefully, this will give the Geely-backed automaker the boost it needs through 2024.
3rd Gear: Mustang Mach-E used BlueCruise in a fatal accident
Federal investigators are investigating a fatal accident involving a… Ford Mustang Mach-E A crash involving two stationary cars in Pennsylvania has revealed that Ford’s advanced driver assistance feature is working BlueCruise was running at the time of collisions.
The accident, which occurred in February, was the subject of an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which announced today that the driver assistance feature was active at the time of the incident. reports Reuters. According to the website:
The National Transportation Safety Board said the Ford was operating “BlueCruise.” According to the vehicle’s data, the Ford driver was driving in BlueCruise mode before the crash that killed the 56-year-old Honda driver, the NTSB said.
A San Antonio police report previously said the Ford was “partially automated” at the time of the crash.
Both the NTSB and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are investigating the San Antonio crash and are also investigating a March 3 crash in Philadelphia involving a Ford Mach-E where the use of an advanced driver assistance system is suspected becomes.
Because of the findings, the investigation into the collision has now become a full investigation, with the NTSB hoping to find out what is happening Role played by BlueCruise in the crash.
4th Gear: The EPA’s push against toxic chemicals also comes to the auto industry
A campaign launched by the Environmental Protection Agency could upend the way we produce the batteries that power our electric cars. The government agency has begun a crackdown on so-called “forever chemicals.” Compounds that do not break down easily enter the environment or the human body and cause serious health problems such as cancer.
Substances such as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl, known as PFAS, are regularly used in the automotive industry in things like batteries and O-rings. The compounds have been linked to hormonal problems and certain types of cancer, which is why the EPA has launched an initiative to eliminate their use. reports Automotive News. As the website explains:
Regulators are trying to reduce the amount of persistent chemicals — that don’t break down easily in the human body or the environment — in U.S. waterways and reduce the amount the public is exposed to. Just this week, the EPA announced its first-ever drinking water standard to protect people from the chemicals and offered states $1 billion to test public water systems, the agency’s first major step toward curbing the cancer-causing chemicals.
High exposure to these chemicals has been linked to prostate, kidney and testicular cancer, as well as reduced fertility. Nevertheless, they are often found in everyday objects, e.g certain nonstick frying pans. Because of the health risks of these compounds, EPA is working to collect information from companies that make and use them.
There are currently few alternatives to the PFAS used in the automotive industry, but Automotive News explained that there are startups developing other options for the sector.