Ford Motor announced a $19.5 billion charge on electric-vehicle investments on Monday, the most visible sign to date of the auto industry’s pullback from a technology carmakers wholeheartedly embraced early this decade.

Ford says it is "following the customer" in discontinuing its large electric pickup, which was well-received but never profitable. Ford will keep the Lightning name alive as a plug-in hybrid.

After confirming plans to end production of the all-electric F-150 Lightning, Ford’s CEO said the $70,000 EV pickup didn’t

Ford is ending production of the F-150 Lightning truck and pivoting to focus on manufacturing hybrid vehicles and smaller electric vehicles.

The writedown was seen as the most visible sign to date of the auto industry's pullback from a technology carmakers wholeheartedly embraced early this decade.

Four years after Ford bravely electrified its best-selling vehicle, the F-150 Lightning pickup, it seemed ready to drop the model owing to slowing demand. Now, it turns out the company's got other plans.

After years of bold EV promises, Ford is retreating from the F-150 Lightning and rewriting its electric future.

The F-150 Lightning’s lack of range has been a big point of contention on social media. One good example is on the F-150 Lightning Forum page, entitled “Range Not Close to Advertised”, where Nater posted:

Ford says the next generation of the F-150 Lightning pickup truck will transition to a range-extended EV powertrain.

Both Ford and GM are outperforming the markets in 2025. However, GM looks like a better buy between the two, given the company's recent track record on execution.