Ford shook up the market with the introduction of the F-150 Lightning. Not only did it look like a regular F-150, it was going to be pretty affordable too. Ford touted that the base Lightning Pro would start at just $39,974. Today, after four price hikes, that same truck now starts at $61,869. Higher trims go for luxury car money. While Ford’s EV pickup remains popular, Kevin Williams detailed for The Verge how, anecdotally, the truck has simply gotten too pricey for many buyers. They’re either canceling their reservation and buying something else or walking away entirely.
According to them, the Lightning simply costs too much. Williams spoke to the internet sales manager of Long McArthur Ford in Salina, Kansas, who said that nearly 30 percent of their Lightning reservation holders have canceled.
“What we’re seeing is that we are having a lot of customers just canceling theirs,” said [Tim Bartz], podcaster and internet sales manager at Long McArthur Ford in Salina, Kansas. He explained that of the 135 or so reservations he’d received, about 40 reservation holders have canceled.
Many buyers were initially wooed by the sub $40,000 starting price, but then it wasn’t. “Ford advertised a $40,000 electric vehicle, and that attracted a lot of people. Now we’ve seen price increases, and those people are like, ‘I’m out’.
Even buyers who found a workaround and managed to get into a Lightning while they waited on the Lightning of their choice have been turned off by the higher prices. Wil Morisse managed to score a standard range F-150 Lightning Lariat that was an abandoned dealer allocation while he waited for his reservation for a Lightning Lariat extended range. His plan was to trade in his truck for his reservation. He was counting on his reserved Lightning to cost around $74,000.
“By the time I was given a chance to order, it was October 2022,” he said in a direct message conversation. “Delivery was pushed back until April 2023. Pricing had gone up to $89,000, and they removed a bunch of options like bed scales, heated steering wheel, and more.”
While the company’s reasoning for the increases — materials costs, supply chain issues among others— makes sense, it’s beginning to look more and more like the Lightning is a luxury item that just happens to be an EV. And for something that’s known to most Americans as a utilitarian workhouse, buyers may be starting to realize that.