DETROIT — In a bold bow to changing consumer tastes, Ford Motor Co. yesterday announced a 21 percent production cut — mostly of its lagging F-Series pickup and SUV lineup — for the last three months of the year that will result in downtime at 10 factories nationwide.

During the last three months of the year, Ford said, it would build 168,000 fewer vehicles than a year ago.

The move will allow the financially struggling automaker to build more of the fuel-efficient cars and crossovers that consumers want these days and fewer of the gas-guzzling trucks they don't. But it's a risky gambit: the vehicles customers want are far less profitable than the big trucks they have been shunning.

And while the move may help Ford better stock its showrooms for future customers, the cutback is yet another blow for Michigan and its battle-worn automotive industry.

Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford's latest move is expected to have a ripple effect on the local auto- parts industry, especially Lear Corp. and Visteon Corp., where more production cuts and financial losses could follow as Ford needs fewer seats and electronics.

"No one can be pleased by the severity of this cut, which is the most aggressive reduction of a North American production plan in more than 20 years," Bill Ford, the company's chairman and CEO, said in an e-mail to employees.

"I am satisfied, however, that we are laying a sturdier foundation upon which to build our business structure going forward. ... This is ... the right call for our customers, our dealers and our long-term future."

Ultimately, the aggressive production cut could be a lifesaver for the ailing 103-year-old automaker, which lost $1.4 billion during the first half of the year.

By building more of the vehicles customers want and fewer of those they don't, Ford won't be saddled with parking lots full of hulking vehicles that the automaker will only have to discount, and possibly sell at a loss, later.

Ford officials refused to say how many workers might be furloughed at specific facilities.

Overall, however, Ford said, it would cut production of cars, specifically models like the Town Car, Mercury Grand Marquis and Ford Five Hundred, by 5 percent, to 235,000 vehicles.

Pickups and SUVs, meanwhile, will take the biggest hit — 28 percent — and only 390,000 of those vehicles will be built in the October-December period.

Bill Ford said in his e-mail that the decision is part of broader efforts to accelerate the company's North American turnaround and modernize the company's lineup in a marketplace that has grown ever more sensitive to spikes in gas prices. Conflict in the Middle East, which is a major source of U.S. oil, also has played a role in stoking customers' concerns about fuel.

"An unprecedented spike in gasoline prices during the second quarter impacted our product lineup more than that of our competitors because of the long-standing success of our trucks and SUVs," he wrote.