Ford announced on Friday that it plans to reduce production of the electric version of its flagship pickup truck in the United States, the F-150 Lightning, due to a slowdown in demand.

The American automaker says that assembly of the electric pickup will be reduced to a single shift starting in April, in order to better align production with current demand.

The group stresses that around 1,400 employees at its Rouge site will be affected by this decision, 700 of whom will be transferred to the Michigan plant, with the remainder either having to take on other functions at Rouge or in the rest of the state, or taking advantage of the voluntary redundancy program recently implemented.

Ford, which saw sales of the F-150 Lightning soar by 55% last year, says it expects sales of electric vehicles to grow less strongly than expected this year.

Nevertheless, it plans to create 900 new jobs with the addition of a third line at its Michigan site to increase production of the Bronco and Bronco Raptor combustion SUVs and the new Ranger and Ranger Raptor pick-ups.

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, Ford shares were down 0.4% on Friday morning following these announcements.

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