Supplier shortage halts Ford F-150 production at Michigan plant

Cox Automotive projects Hyundai will overtake Ford as third-largest U.S. automaker

Ford Motor’s F-150 pickup production was halted for about one week at a Michigan assembly plant because of a supplier shortage, and the disruption will weigh on the automaker’s third-quarter wholesale deliveries, CEO Jim Farley told reporters Wednesday.

“It is impacting our third quarter wholesale, but I’m very optimistic,” Farley said on the sidelines of a company event in Detroit. Ford deployed a supply-chain team to resolve the shortage, and fourth-quarter production shouldn’t be affected, he said. “We’re on track.”

A Ford spokesman said the latest production halt stemmed from a shortage of unspecified components.

The stoppage adds to a year-plus of supply-chain pressure on Ford’s pickup operations. A series of fires at aluminum supplier Novelis had disrupted Ford’s truck production for more than a year, costing the automaker about $800 million through the first half of 2025, according to figures Ford shared with analysts in July. The Novelis aluminum plant restarted production in June.

Ford has said it expects to build an additional 150,000 trucks this year on top of 2025’s reduced volume to recoup sales lost during the aluminum shortage. To hit that target, Ford needs F-Series production output of at least 95,000 a month through the end of the year, according to a Wednesday note from Barclays analysts.

Ford’s broader U.S. sales picture has continued to weaken. The company’s overall U.S. sales through August were down 10 percent, while F-Series sales — which include the F-150 and heavy-duty pickups — were down 11 percent.

Industry research firm Cox Automotive estimates that the sales decline will allow Korean automaker Hyundai Motor to overtake Ford as the third-largest car company in the U.S. by sales.

Charlie Chesbrough, Cox’s senior economist, said the F-Series production challenges and Ford’s decision to discontinue the mass-market Escape SUV at the end of last year contributed to the company’s decline. “Among manufacturers having a difficult quarter, Ford may be our leader,” Chesbrough said.