--- title: "Ford Bets It Can Sell Even More Pickups in 2026, So It’s Amping Up F-150, Super Duty Production" date: "2025-10-24" modified: "2025-10-24" authors: - name: "Adam Ismail" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/adam-ismail" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/ford-bets-it-can-sell-even-more-pickups-in-2026-so-its-amping-up-f-150-super-duty-production" categories: - "Ford News" - "News" - "News by Brand" --- # Ford Bets It Can Sell Even More Pickups in 2026, So It’s Amping Up F-150, Super Duty Production ![2024 Ford F-150 preproduction model shown with optional features.]() *\Ford\* The average new vehicle in America [costs more than $50,000](). If that seems high, it makes more sense when you consider that the [Ford]() F-Series pickup is a [close runner-up for America's best-selling vehicle](), and you can't get one for less than $42,620. In fact, it's easy to spec one that costs more than double that, and many buyers do. For those reasons, it's not surprising that Ford is looking for ways to increase F-150 production next year, particularly after a supplier bottleneck slowed manufacturing in the fall. What *is* surprising is how much weight the company is throwing behind full-size trucks. Ford plans to build 50,000 more of them in 2026, and it plans to hire 1,000 more employees to make that possible, the company [announced Thursday](). Part of the impetus for this is, in Ford's words, to "recover production losses stemming from the fire at supplier Novelis' Oswego, New York, aluminum plant." That fire happened in mid-September, and Ford estimates the knock-on effect that's had on its ability to pump out pickups has cost the automaker $2 billion this quarter. Novelis expects to be fully back online in December, and Ford CEO Jim Farley recently visited the site to survey the situation. So, Ford hopes to make up for lost F-150 production this year in 2026. But it's also [pulling resources from the battery-electric Lightning truck]() to accomplish that goal—and it's more than a matter of where the aluminum goes. Ford says that Lightning production will "remain paused," and that "hourly employees at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center," where the Lightning is made, "will transfer next door to Dearborn Truck Plant." There's no end date given for this by the way; just an announcement of a "new third crew" at the Dearborn Truck Plant, and additional personnel at its Louisville, Kentucky facility, where Super Duty is built. Ford moved 460,915 units of F-Series last year—a decrease of 5% annually and almost 15,000 units behind the Toyota RAV4, which totaled 475,193 in 2024 sales, per Jato Dynamics via *[Forbes]()*. In other words, Ford's already cranking out a ton of trucks, and it's hoping it can cross the half-million threshold next year. The automaker estimates that the F-Series year-end figure could be as much as 100,000 lower in 2025 due to the Novelis fire. *Got a tip? Email us at tips@thedrive.com*[]() ## Author Adam is a Senior Editor at The Drive, concentrating on curating and developing the site's slate of daily journalism, from initial pitch to final copy edit. When he's not at his desk researching leads and working with writers, he's testing vehicles or reviewing racing games, new and old. He joined The Drive in 2023, following seven years of covering consumer technology and cars. A car lover and gamer since his earliest memories, Adam came to know the automotive world through video games. First it was Daytona USA, Sega Rally, and Ridge Racer; then came Need For Speed, which inspired an encyclopedic knowledge of '90s supercars, and, of course, Gran Turismo. If not for them, he'd assuredly be doing something else right now. Adam is based in the suburbs outside Philly, where there are ample roads for his hot hatch to stretch its legs. In his car, he's probably listening to indie rock, drum and bass, or Yankees baseball. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()