By David Shepardson

(Reuters) -Ford Motor will halt production of its F-150 Lightning electric vehicle pickup trucks for six weeks from Nov. 18 to Jan. 6, the Dearborn automaker said on Thursday.

Ford's U.S. plants are closed for a holiday week in December.

"We continue to adjust production for an optimal mix of sales growth and profitability," a Ford spokesperson said.

Ford has been scaling back its EV plans, saying in August it was killing a planned three-row electric SUV and pushing back a new electric version of its best-selling F-150 pickup.

The company has instead thrown more investment into hybrid vehicles, which combine an electric motor with a gasoline engine.

Ford said this month its Ford-brand U.S. EV sales are up 45% this year and sales of F-150 Lightning more than doubled to 7,100 in the three months ending Sept. 30 - thought they still represent just 3.6% of all F-Series pickup sales.

The company in April cut production of the F-150 Lightning to one shift after it announced in October 2023 it would temporarily cut one of three shifts at its Michigan plant.

CEO Jim Farley has said one of the main solutions to slowing EV sales growth is bringing production costs down. That is a key goal for the future health of the company, which is expected to lose about $5 billion on EVs this year alone.

Ford this week reported third-quarter net income of $900 million, or 22 cents per share, hurt by a $1 billion charge it took over the decision to cancel production of the three-row EV SUV in August.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jonathan Oatis and Jan Harvey)