- Current and former managers can lease either a Mustang Mach-E or an F-150 Lightning.
- Ford believes encouraging employees to drive its EVs will help spread the word about the vehicles.
- Chief executive Jim Farley says Ford needs to make its EVs profitable within five years.
Like plenty of other carmakers, Ford is eager to boost sales of its EVs and it believes that strongly encouraging managers to buy either a Mustang Mach-E or an F-150 Lightning could help it.
Ford currently operates a leasing program for current and former managers, allowing them to buy usually one or two leased vehicles before having the chance to order a supplemental car. In the past, Ford’s thousands of managers across the U.S. could take their pick for a supplemental vehicle but now, it must either be a Mustang Mach-E or F-150 Lightning.
Read: Ford EV Sales Surge 62%, While Hybrids Jump 56%
The company believes the program will help grow sales by making more people familiar with its EVs.
“By encouraging our employees to drive an electric vehicle through the optional program, they can learn firsthand how easy it is and better share their experiences with friends and family — a key way to increase familiarity with new technology,” a Ford spokesman told Reuters.
Ford did not say how many managers it expects to pick up the keys to a Mustang Mach-E or F-150 Lightning. Each model leased to a manager will count as a sale for Ford.
While both the Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning arrived on the EV scene relatively quickly, they haven’t been selling as well as Ford initially hoped. In late March, Ford reduced production output at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, by approximately two-thirds to better align the F-150 Lightning with demand.
Ford’s EV business lost $1.3 billion through the first quarter of 2024. According to company chief executive Jim Farley, the carmaker must make its EVs profitable within the next five years. If it’s unable to do so, Farley believes the carmaker may only be able to continue to operate in North America.
“If we cannot make money on EVs, we have competitors who have the largest market in the world, who already dominate globally, already setting up their supply chain around the world,” Farley told NBC News. “And if we don’t make profitable EVs in the next five years, what’s the future? We will just shrink into North America.”
