Ford needed fewer than 12 hours to receive approximately 20,000 reservations for the hotly anticipated F-150 Lightning. People rushed to make $100 refundable deposits for the all-electric pickup, which kicks off at just under $40,000 before you factor in any local EV incentives. It looks like some of the people who are actually going to purchase the zero-emissions truck are in for a long wait due to what will be an initially limited production.
CEO Jim Farley told CNBC that the F-150 Lightning will have limited production during 2022 when the electric pickup is scheduled to hit the assembly line at the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn. It’s worth mentioning this is not the first time the Blue Oval is using a similar strategy for an EV as the Mustang Mach-E is capping the electric SUV’s output to 50,000 units for the first 12 months of production.
It’s beginning to look like 2023 will be the year when Ford will fully accelerate production of the F-150 Lightning and its availability will expand. Farley says the company has already “made a call on volume,” although he didn’t provide an exact number. Automotive News quotes analyst Rod Lache working for Wolfe Research saying the Blue Oval might be limited by suppliers to 80,000 units per year, but that’s just an estimation at this point.
As previously reported, the Lightning will come exclusively as a four-door SuperCrew model with a 5.5-foot cargo bed. The most expensive version of the bunch is going to be the fully loaded Platinum trim level equipped with the bigger battery, set to cost approximately $90,000. That’s still less than the GMC Hummer EV3X and the tri-motor Tesla Cybertruck.
Existing reservations for the Lightning will be transformed by Ford into actual orders starting this fall. It’s safe to say the feedback from customers so far has been exceptional, but that’s to be expected considering the regular F-150 has been the best-selling truck in the US for 44 years in a row.
Source: Automotive News
