Dive Brief:
- Ford has slashed the prices of F-150 Lightning electric pickups by up to $9,979 after upgrades to its factory to scale production and lower raw material prices for batteries, the automaker announced in a press release Monday.
- Ford temporarily closed its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan in order to complete the upgrades that will triple the annual production capacity of the F-150 Lightning from 50,000 to 150,000 vehicles this year.
- The price cuts come amid growing competition, including the production of Tesla’s first Cybertruck on July 15, and the upcoming launch of the Chevy Silverado EV electric pickup by General Motors.
Dive Insight:
The latest F-150 Lightning price cuts might help Ford remain competitive as the automaker faces new competition in the electric truck segment with the upcoming launch of the Chevy Silverado EV from rival GM. Reservations for GM’s first electric pickup are already full.
GM is also launching fully electric versions of the Blazer and Equinox SUVs this year, which will likely compete with Ford's electric Mach-E. The Blazer EV will have an estimated starting MSRP of $44,995.
Along with the F-150 Lightning price cuts, Ford is offering a $1,000 bonus for retail customers that build XLT, Lariat or Platinum versions of the truck online or at a dealer from July 6 to July 31, as part of the company’s summer sales promotion.
The most expensive version of the Lightning is the Platinum Extended Range model. Its MSRP was reduced by $6,079, from $98,074 to $91,995.
Some F-150 Lightning models are also eligible for up to $7,500 in commercial EV tax incentives as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
The F-150 Lightning was unveiled on May 19, 2021, with a starting MSRP of $39,974 for the base Pro version. The first customer deliveries began in April 2022. Ford, however, raised the price of all versions of the Lightning several times in 2022.
“Shortly after launching the F-150 Lightning, rapidly rising material costs, supply constraints and other factors drove up the cost of the EV truck for Ford and our customers,” said Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer, Ford Model e, in a statement.
The first wave of F-150 Lightning price increases was announced in August 2022. Ford said it was increasing prices on new orders of the Lightning by $6,000 to $8,500 depending on the model, due to what the company described as “significant material cost increases and other factors.” At the time, the base Lightning Pro MSRP increased by $7,000 to $46,974.
In October 2022, Ford raised the price of the Lightning Pro by another $5,000 due to rising costs and supply chain disruptions. As of April 2023, the base price of the Lightning Pro jumped by a total of $20,000 to $59,974, where it remained before Monday’s announcement.
Earlier this month, Ford announced that F-150 Lightning sales were up 119% compared to Q2 2022. The company’s year-to-date EV sales increased by 11.9%. In April, Ford began exporting a limited number of F-150 Lightning Lariat Launch Edition models to Norway.
In May, Ford announced its commitment to manufacture both nickel cobalt manganese (NCM) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries in the U.S. to diversify its U.S. supply chain in order to make EVs more affordable.
Ford is also adopting Tesla’s North America Charging Standard charging port on future EVs starting in 2025. In the interim, the automaker will offer EV customers an adapter early next year to gain access to more than 12,000 Tesla Superchargers in North America.
In total, Ford is investing more than $50 billion globally to launch new electric vehicles. The automaker targets a production run rate of 2 million EVs globally by the end of 2026.
