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Ford Motor is lowering the starting prices of some all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup trucks as it prepares to resume shipping the vehicles after quality issues.
The included models are expected to ship later this month for between $2,000 and $5,500 less than before the automaker halted shipments for undisclosed quality issues in early February.
The biggest price decrease was on the pickup’s mid-level “Flash” trim, now priced $5,500 lower at $67,995.

The F-150 Lightning on display at the New York International Auto Show on March 28, 2024. 
Danielle DeVries | CNBC

DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford Motor is lowering the starting prices of some all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup trucks as it prepares to resume shipping the vehicles after quality issues.
The included models are expected to ship later this month for between $2,000 and $5,500 less than before the automaker halted shipments for undisclosed quality issues in early February.

The biggest price decrease is on the pickup’s mid-level Flash trim, now priced $5,500 lower at $67,995. That was followed by $2,500 off Lariat models, now priced at $74,995, as well as a $2,000 reduction for XLT models, with a new price of $62,995.
Prices on the $54,995 entry-level Pro model and an $84,995 top-end Platinum model were unchanged.
The cost reductions are the latest electric vehicle price changes for the broader automotive industry amid slower-than-expected consumer adoption. Ford’s cuts come three months after it adjusted Lightning prices, including increasing some model prices.
“It’s part of the normal response to both where the market place is, our supply and where our inventory sits … which we do all the time,” Ford Chief Operating Officer Kumar Galhotra told reporters on the sidelines of an event at its F-150 plant in Dearborn, Michigan. “New technology like electric vehicles takes some time to find the right sweet spot and the balance.”

The new Ford F-150 truck goes through the assembly line at the Ford Dearborn Plant on April 11, 2024 in Dearborn, Michigan. 
Bill Pugliano | Getty Images

Galhotra declined to comment on the nature of the problems that caused the stop-shipment as well as on why gas and diesel versions of the F-150 were held for months after production started. He broadly said engineers constantly write software onto modules for the vehicles, which are all connected with modems, to detect any anomalies and determine defects.

“There were some several small issues,” Galhotra said. “Once we find the solution to them, we fix them and then we ship. … We try to find every single thing that we can.”
In media materials released on Thursday, Ford referred to what it called an “unprecedented truck offensive,” saying it assembled 144,000 F-150 full-size and Ranger midsize pickups during the first quarter of the year that are making their way to dealers and customers. Roughly 92% of the pickups built were F-150 pickups.
Having a large number of vehicles is not a good thing for an automaker. It means more costs on their books and delayed deliveries to dealers and customers.
Automotive News on April 4 reported that Ford has revived a controversial practice of goal-based incentives for dealers called stair-step programs to increase sales for the vehicles. Since February, the automaker, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the program, has been offering retailers escalating cash bonuses if they reach and exceed monthly F-150 sales targets, Automotive News reported.
Ford last year also delayed shipments of its larger Super Duty pickups, which are siblings to the F-150, for months to do additional quality checks and inspections following issues with recent launches that led to recalls and high warranty costs.
“We’re going to prioritize quality, always. These are very complex vehicles with complex launches. We want to take the time to make sure everything is good, everything is perfect,” Galhotra said. “And when we’re satisfied with the level of quality, then and only then we’ll start shipping to our customers.”
Ford has said its warranty costs contribute to a cost disadvantage of $7 billion to $8 billion annually compared to its traditional competitors.
Correction: Automotive News released its report on Ford’s goal-based incentives on April 4. A previous version of this article misstated the date. More

Skyrocketing auto insurance costs helped contribute to inflation accelerating at a faster-than-expected pace in March.
On a monthly basis, car insurance prices as part of the consumer price index rose by an unadjusted 2.7%, while the year-over-year increased by 22.2%, according to data released Wednesday.
The rise in insurance costs is in addition to historically high prices for new and used vehicles since the coronavirus pandemic, as well as rising costs to repair vehicles.

RobertCrum | Getty Images

DETROIT – Skyrocketing auto insurance costs helped contribute to inflation accelerating at a faster-than-expected pace in March and are adding to the ever more expensive costs for U.S. vehicle owners.
On a monthly basis, car insurance prices as part of the consumer price index rose by an unadjusted 2.7%, while the year-over-year increased by 22.2%, according to data released Wednesday. The index is a key inflation gauge and a broad measure of the cost of goods and services across the economy.

Auto insurance costs have been on the rise for some time, growing every month as part of the index since December 2021. Since then, costs have increased by 45.8%, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, auto insurance remains a small portion of the CPI, with a 2.85% weighting.
The uptick comes on top of historically high prices for new and used vehicles since the coronavirus pandemic. It’s also become increasingly more expensive to repair vehicles due to supply chain shortages, mechanic wage increases and additional technologies in vehicles such as microprocessors, cameras and other sensors — all of which contribute to higher vehicle and insurance costs.

“There’s not a single factor, but I think the biggest factor is a combination of new cars and more expensive, so if you total your car the replacement cost is really high and a fender bender is very expensive right now,” said Sean Tucker, senior editor at vehicle valuation and automotive research company Kelley Blue Book. “The technology in the cars, it’s a very specific problem.”
Instead of having to replace a plastic or steel bumper on many vehicles, a simple fender bender can now damage cameras, proximity sensors and varying other technologies used for newer safety features and tools such as cruise control, parking and emergency braking.
“Premiums have been on the rise because the cost of what goes into auto insurance has been rising,” David Sampson, CEO and president of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, told CNBC. “There’s a long lag time between when the trends emerge and companies see these loss trends existing. It then takes time for them to build that into their rate application filings.”

Earlier this year, Sampson himself had slight damage to a bumper on a 2024 pickup truck on his property that he says was quoted to cost him $1,800 to repair or replace.
“All of the technology that we’ve come to rely on makes makes the replacement or repair of these vehicles really, really, costly,” said Sampson, whose organization is the primary national trade association for home, auto and business insurers.

The insurance cost increases on inflation come more than two years after the Biden administration largely blamed used car prices for pushing inflation higher in January 2022.
Mitchell, an automotive software provider specializing in collision repair and auto insurance sectors, said repair costs were increasing at an annual rate of about 3.5% to 5% prior to the coronavirus pandemic. As of 2022, the increases have been at 10% or above, with the average repairable estimate for a vehicle at $4,721 in 2023.
Consumers and companies alike aren’t happy with the increases. J.D. Power in June reported auto insurers lost an average of 12 cents on every dollar of premium they collected in 2022 — the worst performance in more than 20 years — leading them to raise rates at the expense of customer satisfaction.
“What I always remind folks is that insurance is based on actuarial science, so it’s not a case of insurers just deciding that they want to increase premiums,” Sampson said. “The filings have to be based on actuarial loss trends in their rate applications in each state.”
The cost of vehicle insurance — which is mandatory in almost every state — varies by provider, driver, coverage and location. Nearly all states have minimum requirements for liability coverage, but there are a number of other coverages that may or may not be required in a specific state, according to insurance provider Progressive.
The list of optional and mandatory coverage areas can be quite long and expensive for drivers, which has led many insurance companies to offer usage-based insurance, or UBI, programs that base the cost of a policy on a driver’s behaviors using telematics data.

Customers who are new to an insurer have a UBI participation rate of 26%, according to the J.D. Power’s U.S. Auto Insurance Study from June.
The study, in its 24th year, found UBI usage more than doubled from 2016 to 2023, with 17% of auto insurance customers participating in such programs. Price satisfaction among customers participating in these programs is 59 points higher on average than among non-participants, according to J.D. Power.
Usage in such programs is only expected to increase as costs rise and insurers offer discounts or special prices for safer drivers, according to insurance companies.
Based on J.D. Power’s survey, UBI programs from Geico, Progressive, State Farm and Liberty Mutual were ranked above average by customers. USAA, which services all branches of the military and their families, ranked the highest.
J.D. Power’s study also found the cost increases have led to a more than 20-year low in customer satisfaction with auto insurance companies.
“Overall customer satisfaction with auto insurers has plummeted this year, as insurers and drivers come face to face with the realities of the economy,” Mark Garrett, director of insurance intelligence at J.D. Power, said in a June release.
— CNBC’s Robert Ferris and Jeff Cox contributed to this article.

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Moderna has paused plans to build a vaccine manufacturing site in Kenya after a steep drop in demand for its Covid-19 vaccines.
The biotech company said it has not received any vaccine orders for Africa since 2022 and has taken more than $1 billion in losses and write-downs related to the cancellation of previous orders from the continent.
Moderna’s decision aligns with its broader effort to cut costs by resizing its Covid vaccine-manufacturing footprint.

A nurse prepares a dose of Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at Oltepesi Dispensary in Kajiado, Kenya, on September 9, 2021.
Patrick Meinhardt | AFP | Getty Images

Moderna on Thursday said it has paused plans to build a vaccine-manufacturing site in Kenya after a steep drop in demand for its Covid vaccines.
The biotech company said it has not received any vaccine orders for Africa since 2022 and has taken more than $1 billion in losses and write-downs related to the cancellation of previous orders from the continent.

Moderna’s decision aligns with its broader effort to cut costs by resizing its Covid vaccine-manufacturing footprint. The company’s business took a major hit last year as demand for those jabs waned worldwide, with people relying less on protective vaccines and treatments against the virus.
Shares of Moderna fell 45% last year, but the stock is up around 6% this year.
In March 2022, the company said it would invest about $500 million in the Kenyan site and supply as many as 500 million doses of its messenger RNA vaccines to Africa each year. Moderna also had plans to start filling doses of its Covid vaccine in the continent as early as 2023.
But the company has since determined that demand in Africa “is insufficient to support the viability of the factory planned in Kenya,” Moderna said in a statement on Thursday. Still, the company said it is committed to “ensuring equitable access and meeting emerging demands from African nations” for its Covid shot through its global manufacturing network.”
The company said it is also working to develop vaccines for diseases that predominantly affect the African continent, such as HIV and malaria. Those shots are part of Moderna’s broader effort to expand access to vaccines that are out of reach in many parts of the world.

But those jabs are still in the early stages of development, the company noted.
“Given this, and in alignment with our strategic planning, Moderna believes it is prudent to pause its efforts to build an mRNA manufacturing facility in Kenya,” the company said in a statement. “This approach will allow Moderna to better align its infrastructure investments with the evolving healthcare needs and vaccine demand in Africa.”

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Buffalo Wild Wings opened its 100th Go location, which are smaller than its traditional sports bars and limited to delivery and takeout orders.
The chicken wing category saw its sales surge during the pandemic, and off-premise orders now account for a third of BWW’s sales.
BWW’s owner, Inspire Brands. is reportedly considering going public later this year or in 2025.

The 100th location of Buffalo Wild Wings Go opened Wednesday on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.
Source: Buffalo Wild Wings

Buffalo Wild Wings opened its 100th Go location on Wednesday in New York City, four years after unveiling the quick-service offshoot of its sports bar chain.
BWW Go sells the chain’s famous chicken wings and other classic menu items, but its locations are smaller and limited to delivery and takeout orders. For the sports bar chain, it’s a way to make its brand even more ubiquitous, while offering customers more convenience.

Since 2018, Buffalo Wild Wings has been a part of Inspire Brands, which is backed by private equity firm Roark Capital. Initially formed after a merger between BWW and Arby’s, Inspire has since added other chains including Sonic Drive-In, Jimmy John’s, Dunkin’ and Baskin-Robbins.
Inspire is reportedly considering going public in late 2024 or 2025 and seeking a valuation of $20 billion.
BWW is the second-largest U.S. casual-dining chain in the bar and grill category with a market share of 14.4%, trailing only Dine Brands’ Applebee’s, according to Barclays research. It’s carved out a chicken wing dominance among its closest competitors, serving more than 3 million gallons of ranch and blue cheese dressing in 2023.
But the casual-dining segment has struggled, with publicly traded rivals like Chili’s and Red Robin perpetually stuck in turnaround mode.
Buffalo Wild Wings’ revenue fell 1% in 2023 to $2.32 billion, according to franchise disclosure documents. A fast-growing spinoff like Go could make Inspire more enticing to potential public market investors.

Opening a traditional Buffalo Wild Wings location requires anywhere from $2.44 million to $4.83 million in initial investment, depending on the restaurant’s location and other factors, according to franchise disclosure documents. In comparison, a Go location will set a franchisee back roughly $560,000 to $1.05 million.
While a BWW sports bar is around 6,000 square feet on average, a Go location is roughly 1,500 square feet. That means cheaper real estate that’s faster to build and easier to operate.
“With the ability to fit into smaller footprints, it has the recognition of an established brand with the unlimited potential of an emerging one,” said Jack Litman, president of the Munson Group and franchisee of the 100th Go location.

Taking over takeout

The Go format is primarily meant to reach the customers who sometimes don’t want to ditch their couches for a sports bar.
Before the pandemic, off-premise orders accounted for 15% of Buffalo Wild Wings sales, according to John Bowie, brand president at BWW. Now, takeout and delivery make up roughly a third of the BWW’s sales.
“This was an opportunity for us to take the takeout portion of the business, put it inside a freestanding unit and put it very conveniently located to where our customer is,” Bowie told CNBC.
As of Wednesday, BWW has branded its entire off-premise business under the Go name, too.

Buffalo Wild Wings Go
Courtesy: Buffalo Wild Wings Go

BWW’s off-premise growth mirrors that of the broader chicken wing category, which soared in popularity during the pandemic. Like pizza, chicken wings travel well when delivered, but they also offer more variety, with an array of sauces and rubs to switch up the flavor.
While pizza chains like Domino’s and Pizza Hut have seen their sales struggle since the pandemic as pizza fatigue sets in, chicken wings haven’t slowed down in the same way.
For example, fast-casual chain and stock market darling Wingstop has reported strong same-store sales growth for the last year and half, bucking industry trends. Bernstein analyst Danilo Gargiulo wrote in a February research note that Wingstop has the potential to be “the next Domino’s.” (Roark Capital previously owned Wingstop but exited its investment a year and a half after the chain’s IPO.)
Other chains are now also looking to chicken wings to bolster their sales. Restaurant Brands International’s Popeyes added chicken wings to its menu permanently last year.
BWW Go also gives the chain the opportunity to compete better with its fast-food rivals. The chain can tweak its limited menu to appeal to the customers looking for a convenient dinner.
BWW Chief Marketing Officer Tristan Meline told CNBC in the future the chain may lean into offering more special sauces, menu items or deals to Go customers.

Growing interest

BWW plans to keep adding to its current footprint of more than 1,300 sports bars, but Go will be opening locations at a much faster rate, according to Bowie.
“It takes a long time to get a sports bar approval and to build a sports bar, but we’ve already seen with the 60 franchisees we have now that they can start stamping these out, and the growth will be very exciting,” he said.
BWW already has nearly 600 commitments from franchisees to open additional Go locations. About 85% of its operators also franchise with other chains owned by Inspire, like Dunkin’ or Arby’s.
But the calls to franchise are also coming from outside of Inspire; Bowie said that he’s been hearing from large franchisees that already operate multiple concepts.
The chain plans to open another 50 Go locations by the end of the year. More