Ford said production of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup had resumed after a six-week plant shutdown to expand capacity and reaffirmed plans to hit a production run rate of 150,000 units this year.
Michael Martinez
Workers at Ford’s Rouge Electric Vehicle Center build the F-150 Lightning (file photo).
DETROIT — Ford Motor Co. on Tuesday said it has resumed building F-150 Lightning electric pickups after a six-week plant shutdown designed to triple output by later this year.
That increase in production will help Ford stock dealer lots with Lightnings, something that hasn’t happened with any regularity since the truck launched last year as the company raced to fulfill orders.
Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer of Ford’s Model e business unit, said customer wait times for the Lightning are at about three months today, down from as much as two years when it launched. Despite being able to increase inventory, Gjaja said demand was strong.
“We feel very good right now, but the future is somewhat unpredictable and volatile,” Gjaja said. “We’re expanding the capacity and we’ll be filling that capacity but we’ll have to see how the market plays out.
“We’re seeing competition increase and inventories grow … but I think we need to be careful to say demand is shrinking. We look at the U.S., and EVs are growing 40 percent or more on volume year over year. That’s incredible growth.”
Ford last month cut Lightning prices by as much as $10,000, depending on trim. The automaker on Tuesday said those price cuts led to a threefold increase in web traffic and a sixfold increase in orders, although it did not provide specific figures. Of those new orders, over half are for the for lower-priced XLT trim level, which saw a $9,479 price cut.
The company on Tuesday also said the entry-level Pro trim, which until now had been focused on commercial customers, was now available in “limited quantities” for retail buyers.
Gjaja said Ford planned to add additional trim levels in the near future but declined to specify the price points.
Following the plant expansion at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Mich. — which grew its total square footage from 505,000 to 875,000 — Ford on Tuesday said it’s training 1,200 additional workers for a total of 2,000 at the site. The company in December added a third shift there.
Ford said it will have the capacity to build up to 150,000 Lightnings a year by this fall. Its U.S. dealerships sold 8,757 of the trucks in the first half of 2023.
