Ford dealer says F-150 Lightning customer orders delayed until December

Ford unveiled the F-150 Lightning back in mid-May when it allowed early adopters to make reservations that would, later on, be transformed into firm orders. While recent reports speculated the Blue Oval would open the order books for the electric truck on October 26, it looks like that won’t be the case according to at least one Ford dealer.

Members of the LightningOwners forums who have placed reservations for the EV pickup have just been informed by Hardy Family Ford that the order banks won’t be opening next week after all. The e-mail sent by the dealer to reservation holders mentions the Dearborn automaker will begin to accept customer orders for the zero-emissions truck from December.

Come December, the dealer will get in touch with those who have paid $100 for the refundable deposit to claim the F-150 Lightning. It’s important to mention the electric truck is technically not delayed as customer deliveries are still scheduled to commence in mid-2022, according to the e-mail sent by Hardy Family Ford to several members of the LightningOwners forums.

Pre-production of the hotly anticipated electric workhorse has already commenced at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan and the Lightning is off to a great start as Ford has racked up more than 150,000 reservations since the official premiere. An additional investment of $250 million is being made at the plant to increase production capacity at the factory where an extra 450 jobs are being created in order to meet the strong demand.

By 2024, production should increase to 80,000 units annually or double the amount Ford had originally planned. Plans are already in motion for a second-generation Lightning, supposedly programmed to arrive towards the end of 2025 on the TE1 platform that’s being developed specifically for big trucks and SUVs.

Meanwhile, customer deliveries of the Rivian R1T have commenced and the GMC Hummer EV truck is on track for a Q4 2021 release. As for the Tesla Cybertruck, the much-hyped electric ute has been postponed to sometime next year. In January 2022 at CES, Chevrolet will introduce the Silverado EV as yet another pickup without a combustion engine.

Source: LightningOwners