Ford Motors said Friday it will slash the number of workers at its Rouge electric vehicle factory in Dearborn, Michigan, as part of plans to reduce the production of its electric F-150 to better reflect consumer demand.

Though Ford said Friday it expects “further growth” for its EVs in 2024, including for its F-150 Lightning, sales are expected to fall short of its earlier projections.

A total of 1,400 workers at Ford’s Rouge EV production facility are expected to be affected by the decision, the company said. Roughly half of the affected employees will be transferred to other Ford plants in the state, Ford said, including the Michigan Assembly Plant, to help oversee an increase in planned production for two of its gas-powered vehicles: the Bronco SUV and the Ranger pickup truck. 

The company previously said it would cut the production of its Lightning model from 3,200 vehicles per week to 1,600 per week.

The changes are designed to reflect softer-than-expected demand from consumers that have forced Ford and other automakers to rethink their near-term spending in the EV space.

“We are taking advantage of our manufacturing flexibility to offer customers choices while balancing our growth and profitability. Customers love the F-150 Lightning, America’s best-selling EV pickup,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement Friday. 

The statement said that Lightning sales grew 55% in 2023 and are expected to rise further this year. “We see a bright future for electric vehicles for specific consumers, especially with our upcoming digitally advanced EVs and access to Tesla’s charging network beginning this quarter,” Farley said. 

The news comes as Ford and other automakers in the United States have struggled to adjust for the lag between consumer enthusiasm and car sales.

While U.S. EV sales increased last year (representing slightly more than 10% of new car sales in the half of 2023), demand has fallen short of automakers’ projections, forcing Ford and other companies to retrench. 

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Ford announced late last year that it would scale back its planned $3.5 billion investment in an electric vehicle battery plant in Michigan. And in October, it announced it would look to cut costs in the EV space by roughly $12 billion, including postponing the construction of a planned battery factory in Kentucky.